Something More
by Volleyball Babe22
Summary: Sadie Foster is a nurse assigned to jump with the men of Easy Company.  She sticks with them throughout their involvement in WWII. Nixon/OC
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

Sadie was in shock. She had just received news from her superiors that she would be shipping out. Tomorrow. She was finally going to see some action. In fact, according to her orders, she was going to see more action than she ever wanted to. But orders were orders.

Second Lieutenant Sadie Foster of the US Army Nurse Corps had just gotten reassigned to Aldbourne, England. It was now late August 1943 and she'd been a fully trained nurse for just over two years now. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Sadie had been moving back and forth between training nurses in the basic training program to treating injured men at various boot camps. She'd wanted to help troops on the front line, but was ordered to stay behind and help the soldiers by training fresh, new nurses to send over.

Until now. Now she was leaving for England to meet up with a few other well-trained nurses and join the boys of 101st Airborne. They _had_ to be anticipating some combat, right? Being paratroopers and all. She was fairly sure that meant dropping in behind enemy lines. And she was going to be in the thick of it.

In the briefing, Sadie had been told she would be headed to Aldbourne to take a crash-course in paratrooping, where, upon successful completion, she would receive her jump wings. She and the other nurses would be scattered throughout the various companies in 101st and when the men jumped they would be joining them. The idea was that the highly trained nurses would be able to set up a solid aid station close enough to the front line that if men were badly wounded they could receive real treatment at this aid station, instead of being left to die. Even though the nurses would not have all the supplies they needed immediately, they had far more training than the common medic.

Sadie was excited to finally be able to leave all the training behind. She loved teaching, but she'd had enough. At the same time, she was nervous for the future. This was an experimental idea, so she had no idea what it would be like.

She quickly made her way back to her barracks, the place she'd called home for the last couple months, to pack her bags.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the prologue! It may not be the most realistic, but I'm trying not to make it **_**too**_** farfetched. Thanks for reading!**


	2. 1: Enchanted

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**Chapter 1: Enchanted**

Upon arrival in England, Sadie was billeted with a nice older couple, whose own children had grown up and were beginning to have their own families. As the troops were not there yet, Sadie easily fell into a routine that involved being back for Mrs Parker's delicious homemade meals, it was definitely the highlight of her day.

Being one of the higher ranking officers that would be involved in the jump, Sadie had a lot of responsibility in making sure that their current aid station was substantial. Before the men arrived she made sure that there was a schedule that distributed duties amongst the other nurses that had been ordered to make the trip to England. She also made sure paper work was complete and medical supplies were available.

Sadie quickly made a friend in a young woman named Megan. She was around Sadie's age, and stood at about five foot five, which was around five inches shorter than Sadie herself. Megan had a bubbly, outgoing personality that perfectly matched her blonde hair and blue eyes. The two girls instantly became best friends.

"Come on, Sadie! More soldiers just arrived! I think it's the 101st boys!" Megan burst through the aid station's office door.

Sadie looked up from the paper work she was doing, "I can't Meg, I still have a lot of work to do."

"Aw, come on, you've done paper work into next month! Take a break, and let's go meet the men we're gonna be jumping with! Who knows, maybe they'll be cute," Megan replied mischievously.

Sadie just smiled as she rolled her eyes. She then put down her pen and stood up. "Alright, let's go. They better be cute or you owe me," Sadie chuckled.

Just as the girls were walking out the door of the aid station, their superior, Captain Thomas, called out to them. He was accompanied by another man, a colonel by the looks of it.

"Lieutenant Foster, Sergeant McNeil, we're just about to assign companies to you nurses, if you could please come with us," Captain Thomas addressed them.

"Yes, sir," they both replied and followed both men inside.

The colonel was in fact Colonel Sink, commander of the 506th. He addressed all the nurses that had been assigned to this special project and then assigned them to their respective company that they would be jumping with when the time came. In total there were nine companies and there appeared to be about fifteen nurses in attendance. Sadie was positive that all of these nurses were highly qualified and experienced, but as second lieutenant, she appeared to be one of the highest ranked. She was assigned to E Company, while Megan was separated from her into D Company along with another nurse, Rebecca.

The colonel also went on to explain that whenever they weren't on duty in the aid station, they would be with their company. It was essential that they learn the most basic military manoeuvres and strategies in case the situation called for it. As well, since they had only completed three of their five jumps required to receive their jump wings, they would completing the final two jumps with their respective companies. He also explained that as time went on they would be more informed about the specifics of their mission and what their task would be. He then thanked and congratulated the women and went on his way.

Sadie could tell that Megan was a little upset and distraught that they weren't assigned to the same company. "Hey Meg, don't worry," she tried to console her, "D and E are right next to each other in the alphabet so we can't be too far apart, right?"

Lucy looked up at her with a sad smile and simply nodded.

"Things'll work out, just wait," Sadie continued to reassure her.

The nurses were quickly thrown into the intense training and Sadie was thankful that she was fairly fit. On any given day she could be participating in numerous activities, including strategic lessons and physical training.

Participating in these activities meant that Sadie spent more time away from the aid station than she was used to. Sure, there were more than enough nurses already scheduled, but Sadie liked to make sure things were done her way. Often she spent her weekends on the base and would walk home after dark when many of the soldiers and her fellow nurses could be found at the local bar.

One such night she stumbled across a man in E Company also on his way to his billet.

"Lieutenant Winters?" questioned the nurse.

"Good evening, Lieutenant Foster," Dick replied.

"Please, call me Sadie," she requested with a friendly smile.

"And where are you headed, Sadie? Joining your friends at the pub this late?"

"Well, if you must know Lieutenant Winters-"

"It's Dick, please," Winters interrupted.

"Well, _Dick_, if you must know, I'm on my way home for a good night's rest," replied Sadie. "What are you doing out so late?"

"I just finished up some paper work and now I'm also headed to bed," answered Dick.

The two continued with their small talk and Winters, being a gentleman, walked Sadie to her billet, where he bid her goodnight. This began a type of tradition for the two. They often found each other as they left base camp on weekend nights and would converse as Dick walked Sadie home. They were politely friendly during training, as greetings and smiles were always exchanged. There was a quiet understanding between the two that was a lot like the bond of a brother and sister. They enjoyed each other's company and it was as simple as that. There was no need for anything more.

One cold, rainy morning (like most in Aldbourne), Sadie found herself with her platoon being led by Captain Sobel. He clearly had no idea where he was and this tactical exercise was definitely going to take longer than anticipated. Sadie was getting frustrated. She had more important things to do back at the aid station that afternoon and she didn't want to be late just because Sobel couldn't read a damn map!

"Perconte! Luz!" Sobel shouted, "Get the men…take cover behind those trees!"

Sadie just rolled her eyes and followed directly behind Perconte and Luz to the patch of trees while Sobel tried to figure out where in the hell they were in relation to where they were supposed to be meeting up with Second Platoon.

"Hey Luz!" Perconte whispered loudly, "Can you do Major Horton?"

Sadie's ears perked up at that request. Luz's impressions always made her day.

"Does a wild bear crap in the woods, son?" came Luz's response in the most accurate impression of Major Horton anyone had ever heard.

"Maybe the good major can goose this schmuck and get us moving?" suggested Perconte.

"No, no way. I'm not gonna-" George loudly whispered in reply.

"Oh yeah, you gotta Luz! Come on!" Muck put in, along with rumblings of encouragement from a few of the other men.

The men were winning Luz over and he looked expectantly at Sadie pleading that she wouldn't rat them out. She was the newest of the bunch _and_ a lieutenant after all.

"Hey, I'm not _your_ Lieutenant," Sadie replied simply. "I'm for anything that will get us out of here faster."

The men began to quietly cheer and couple patted Sadie on the back in thanks.

"All right, just this once. Shhh" George shushed them as he got prepared to trick Sobel. "Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?" George yelled in his Horton impersonation.

"Who said that? Who broke silence?" was Sobel's response from his position near the fence. Everyone held their breath, hoping that Sobel believed it was Major Horton speaking. "Major Horton?"

"What is the goddamn hold up, Mr Sobel?" George replied, and everyone snickered.

"A fence sir, a –God! A barbed wire fence!" came Sobel's response.

"Oh that dog ain't gonna hunt!" George said and everyone started laughing. "Shut up!" Luz shushed them quietly in his normal voice. "Now, you cut that fence and you get this goddamn platoon on the move!" Luz finished off his impersonation.

Sadie had to cover her mouth from laughing outright and her eyes were beginning to water it was so funny.

Luz's impression did the trick and the men were quickly on the move, albeit in the wrong position. They arrived at the rendezvous behind schedule. Not only that, but they got there by running down the open road in no sort of tactical formation. To make matters worse, Sobel kept yelling "Hi-oh, Silver!" as Winters and his men stepped out into the open. Winters smirked at Sadie as she ran by and she just rolled her eyes in response. Both knew Sobel was hopeless when it came to real-life situations.

It wasn't until late April 1944 that all the nurses had finally completed their fifth jumps and other training. There was a small ceremony where Colonel Sink gave them their jump wings and congratulated them. After, the women decided to all go out to the local bar to celebrate. They had even managed to convince Sadie to go with them.

"You're not gonna wear that, are you?" Megan asked Sadie as she stood there in her uniform looking like she was ready to leave. The girls had all brought their clothes to the nurses' barracks to get ready and then they would head over together.

"What's wrong with this?" Sadie responded, clearly not understanding that uniforms were not what women wore to go out.

"It's your uniform!" exclaimed Megan.

"But I thought we were going out to celebrate our jump wings, so shouldn't I show them off?" questioned the brunette, still confused.

"Oh, you should be showing something off, and it's not your jump wings," hinted another nurse, Sandra, with a wink.

Sadie just blushed at that and said, "But I didn't bring another outfit."

"We'll find you something," Megan reassured her.

"Maybe I shouldn't go," Sadie started.

"Sadie! You never come out with us! Don't worry, we'll find you something," Megan reassured her again. The blonde recruited the fellow nurses into helping Sadie get ready. They pulled her hair out of her usual braid and set in curlers to turn her curly hair into softer waves. They then did light eye-makeup with perfect red lips. They finished it off with a navy blue dress that they borrowed from Katherine (luckily she'd brought two, being unable to decide between red and navy for the night). The dress was a little smaller than Sadie would've liked since she was so tall, but the girls reassured that she looked fabulous. Once all the young women were ready, they set out for what they hoped to be a fun night.

The nurses were all laughing and talking loudly as they walked into the bar. It was already packed with soldiers and locals. Almost immediately a man put his arm around Sadie's shoulders and directed her away from her friends.

"Now what is Lieutenant Sadie Foster doing out on a night like this?" asked Bill Guarnere, not used to seeing Sadie out with the other girls.

"Celebrating getting my jump wings," Sadie smiled proudly.

"Congratulations," said Guarnere as she sat down at the table with some of the other men, "Let me buy you a drink." He quickly passed her a full drink that was already sitting on the table.

"Thanks Bill," replied Sadie, laughing lightly and smiling up at the man.

"Now Gonorrhea, you know little Sadie here doesn't drink," George Luz stated, from beside her with a slight teasing tone.

"Oh I drink," Sadie clarified, "I drink amongst the best of them."

"Y'know, Malark," George grabbed Malarkey's shoulder and pointed at Sadie, "I just plain don't believe that."

"Oh you don't, do ya?" Sadie challenged.

"Nope," responded Luz. Sadie looked around at the rest of the men at their table and they all shrugged, agreeing with George.

"Well, here goes," Sadie picked up her giant glass of beer and chugged the whole thing back at a fairly quick pace as they cheered her on. Then the men whooped loudly as she slammed her glass on the table to signify that she's finished the entire thing.

George then put his arm around her shoulder in some form of acceptance into Easy Company and their circle of friends. He started to say something to the other men, but she wasn't paying attention.

She was still smiling like she was listening to what Luz was saying as her eyes flickered across the room. Her sparkling green eyes quickly met with a dark pair. They belonged to a dark-haired man across the room, and it was apparent that he had seen the whole event, as there was a smirk on his face.

"Sadie?" Malarkey questioned, pulling Sadie's attention back to her table.

"Huh?" she asked with raised eyebrows, slightly confused.

"I'm gonna grab another beer. I was wondering if you would like one," Malarkey explained slowly, teasing the young woman.

Sadie blushed, embarrassed that she'd been caught staring off into space, but quickly got over it and replied, "Do you even have to ask?"

The men just laughed and jeered as Malarkey got up from the table to get them another round of drinks.

They all continued to laugh and talk. It turned out the men were there celebrating Sobel's transfer and a new CO, Lieutenant Meehan. Sadie continued to laugh and smile with the men, but she couldn't help glancing around the room every so often for the man. She knew who he was, but she'd never actually spoken with him. Dick had spoken highly of him and it sounded like they were great friends. She had to admit that she was very intrigued.

Before she knew it, Sadie was done her second beer. She asked the men if they wanted another and Luz handed her money to get him and herself one. She made her way over to the bar and was slightly disappointed that the dark-eyed man was not longer standing there. She patiently waited for the bartender to make his way over as she glanced around the room.

She spotted the officer easily; he was talking with a couple of other officers across the room. He seemed to sense her eyes on him as he turned her way and their eyes met for the second time that night. He excused himself and made his way over towards the tall nurse. Sadie quickly turned back to the bar, feeling a little nervous that he might actually talk to her and slightly embarrassed that he'd caught her staring.

"Evening, Lieutenant Foster," greeted the man. They hadn't formerly met, but they knew of each other, being in the same company and all.

"Lieutenant Nixon," Sadie greeted the taller man back, not meeting his eyes yet.

"What brings you off base? I hear you're almost as bad as Dick," Nixon inquired.

"Celebrating," she replied simply.

"Oh right, jump wings. Congratulations."

Sadie turned to him, "How'd you-?"

"Intelligence officer," he responded with a wink before she could even finish asking the question.

"Oh right," Sadie said as the barman handed her the two beers she'd ordered.

"Let me get that for you," Nixon went to pay for her drinks.

"Don't worry, Luz is already buying," Sadie assured him with a small laugh.

"Well in that case…" Nixon trailed off, causing Sadie to laugh again. He already loved her laugh and didn't want her to stop.

Sadie wasn't quite ready to leave Nixon to return to her friends yet. "So what brings you out tonight, Nix?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm here every night," he replied.

"Well, maybe I should be coming here more often," she flirted with him, her green eyes sparkling.

"Maybe you should," hinted Nixon.

"Hey Sadie! Where are those drinks? I'm getting thirsty over here, woman!" George called impatiently.

"That's my cue," Sadie sighed, "Maybe I'll talk to you later?"

"I'd like that," the Intelligence Office replied with a smile.

And with that Sadie returned to the table of Easy Company men with two beers in hand.

"Would you calm the fuck down, Luz?" Sadie exclaimed in very unladylike fashion as she handed over his beer. "I'm still a superior officer."

"But not _my _superior officer," countered George, to which Sadie just laughed and shook her head. They clanked glasses and each took a sip.

After finishing her third beer, Sadie was feeling fairly drunk and decided it was best she find the girls that she came with. She glanced around the room and saw Megan in an intense conversation with an officer from D Company. Deciding it was best to let her be, she kept looking. Finding no nurses she really felt like talking to, the alcohol gave her the confidence to think it was a good idea to bid Lieutenant Nixon goodnight and then head back to the Parker residence.

Sadie made her way over to the good-looking officer and yelped as she stumbled and grabbed onto his arm for support.

"Easy there, Sadie," he put his hand on her waist for support as they stood facing each other. "I think that beer you knocked back earlier has gone straight to your head."

With her hand still on his arm, she closed her eyes and scrunched her nose in thought. "I think you might be right," Sadie replied, which caused him to laugh. She opened her eyes and just took in the man's features, deciding that he had a nice smile.

After a few seconds of silence Nixon asked, "Did you come over for a reason other than to fall into my arms? Or am I just that lucky?"

"Oh, smooth talker," she responded coyly. "Actually yes, I came over here to say goodnight."

"Already? It's still early!"

"Mrs Parker is more than likely worried sick that I'm not home. And she probably won't appreciate me coming home in this state as it is," the younger Lieutenant explained.

"Are you walking alone?"

"It would appear that way. I didn't want to tear the other girls away-"

"Alright, let's go. I'll walk you."

"Really, Nix, it's fine."

"Would you shut it? I'm not letting a woman walk home alone," Lewis stated. He finished the rest of his drink, grabbed his coat and placed his hand on Sadie's lower back to guide her out the door.

Sadie instantly sobered up quite a bit after stepping into the chilly April air. She hadn't brought a coat with her, having not anticipated wearing anything but her uniform. Nixon noticed her shiver and immediately offered her his coat, which she gratefully accepted.

"What?" Nixon asked after Sadie stared at him for an extended period of time.

"I don't see it."

"Don't see what?"

"How you and Dick are friends. As far as I can tell, you're not very alike."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dick's a good man-"

"Ouch," Nixon grabbed his heart like she'd hurt him.

"Not like that, not like that," Sadie grabbed his arm as she laughed, trying to explain herself in her drunken state. "It's just that you seem to enjoy alcohol and the company of women _a lot_. And Dick, not so much. At all."

"Wow, you really know how to compliment a guy, especially a guy who lends you his coat on a cold night," Nixon teased.

"I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that Dick's-"

"I know what you meant," Nixon laughed, "I guess spending two years with Sobel as your CO will bring any group of men together."

The two Lieutenants chatted for a few minutes longer until they reached the Parker residence.

"Well this is me," said Sadie, standing directly between Nixon and the Parker house. "Thanks for walking me home," she said shyly, looking at the ground.

"It was my pleasure," the taller man smiled down at her. "Oh! My coat," he said as an afterthought.

Just as he went to help her push it off her shoulders, Sadie looked up and their eyes met. Nixon forgot all about the coat and kissed her. One hand went to her hair and the other to her waist. Sadie returned the kiss as her hands ran up his chest, one brushing his neck and his jaw as the other one gripped his suspender.

As they parted, Sadie bit her bottom lip lightly and whispered, "Night, Lew," as she slipped off his coat and passed it to him. She looked him in the eye one more time before turning and walking inside.

Nixon just stood there with a stupid smirk on his face and said, "Night Lieutenant," as he watched her walk inside. He then turned and headed towards the house he was quartered to for the night.

Sadie was still smiling and blushing as she prepared for bed. She couldn't stop running her fingers over her lips and she swore she could still feel he five o'clock shadow against her skin and taste the whiskey that was on his breath. What was she thinking? She didn't go around kissing men she'd just met. She would've blamed the alcohol, but she wasn't feeling _that_ buzzed anymore.

A couple of hours later, Sadie lay in bed still wide awake. She couldn't stop thinking about Lewis Nixon. She wondered if he felt the same way and if he'd ever talk to her again. And if he did, would he pretend like nothing happened? Would he just brush her off like all the other women he'd undoubtedly been with? Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. Surely someone that charming had someone waiting for him at home. God, she hoped not. She hoped he wasn't in love with someone else. If only he could put her mind at ease and come back to her and tell her that he'd had a lovely time just as she had had. She didn't care if he woke the older house owners, if it meant she could sleep knowing that he cared. Instead, Sadie drifted off to sleep praying that he didn't have someone waiting for him.

**A/N: So I have a bit more written, and **_**a lot **_**more in my mind. I thought I would upload the first bit to see if people like it so far and I plan to write more over the Christmas break! Thanks again everyone! **


	3. 1: Realizations

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**Realizations**

The next day, Sadie couldn't help but think about Nixon and every time she did, she would get butterflies in her stomach. She was working at the aid station in the morning that day, and then would be training with the men for the afternoon.

She walked in to find that Megan had beaten her there already, possibly for the first time ever.

"Good morning, Meg," Sadie greeted her friend with a cheerful smile.

"Morning," the blonde nurse smiled back, "what's got you so chipper this morning?"

"Oh nothing," Sadie tried to act normal, but inside she couldn't wait to see Nixon.

"I saw you leave with Lieutenant Nixon last night," Megan hinted. Sadie's response was to turn her back and look busy in hopes of hiding her blush. "You know he's married, right?"

"_What?_" Sadie whipped her head around, surprise evident on her face.

"Oh my goodness! You didn't know? You didn't…?" Megan trailed off, hinting at something inappropriate.

"No! Of course not! Who do you think I am?"

"Well you were pretty drunk."

"Nothing happened," Sadie said firmly. "He just didn't want me walking home alone, so he escorted me." She decided to leave out the important detail of Lewis kissing her, since he was married and all.

The two nurses went about their business. It wasn't overly exciting since not too many men were getting injured during training, but there were a couple soldiers there with minor scrapes and sprains and even one who was fighting bronchitis. They did their rounds and replenished the supplies.

Afternoon came around and Sadie prayed that she wouldn't see Nixon during their physical training. She was extremely pissed off that she let herself get caught up in something this stupid and even more angry at him for causing it. She didn't know what she would do if she saw him, but she knew it wasn't something she wanted the rest of Easy Company to witness. Luckily he wasn't around. He must have been with regiment going over intelligence they'd received. Sadie went home at the end of the day both physically and emotionally drained.

She was working at the aid station again the next morning. She was just going through her morning duties when she felt the presence of Lewis Nixon behind her.

"You shouldn't be here," she stated simply, a warning tone in her voice.

"Why not?" asked Nixon.

"You're a married man," she replied without even looking at him.

"I just wanna talk."

She turned to a different shelf, still not looking at the man. "Those weren't your intentions the other night."

There was a long pause while Nixon tried to think of something before he finally gave in and said, "Okay, you got me there."

Without looking at the intelligence officer, Sadie walked in back room and Nixon followed.

"You let me make such a fool of myself!" the nurse exploded.

"What?" Nixon replied, clearly confused and a little taken back at the sudden emotion she was showing.

"You were flirting with me and I flirted back! And you let me wear your coat! And you _kissed me_!"

"Whoa! Hold on, I distinctly remember you kissing me back. Can I just explain myself here?" he tried to defend himself. Sadie just crossed her arms and gave him permission with a sceptical look. "And you won't freak out?"

"Go on," Sadie sighed in defeat.

"Yes, I'm married," the dark-haired man began, "But I'm pretty sure she wants to divorce me-"

"You're still married, Lew!" exclaimed Sadie, throwing her hands in the air.

"Hey! I thought you were gonna let me talk here."

"Sorry," Sadie grumbled out of frustration.

"_And_," Nixon picked up where she cut him off, "I haven't heard from her in over two years."

"Yes, I'm sure you were completely faithful until last night," Sadie replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"I wasn't going to say that," Nixon responded with a hint of frustration.

Sadie stormed out of the room in a huff of her own frustration.

"I get it. I fucked up," Nixon accepted as he followed her.

"Thank you Lieutenant Obvious!" she continued with the sarcasm.

"You know what, I came here because I was glad I met you the other night, but if you're just gonna be like this then I'm not going to waste my time."

"Good! I have work to do anyway!" Sadie turned to go back to work as Nixon exited the aid station.

"Ugghhh," Sadie sighed in frustration as she threw down the towels she was folding and followed him out. "Lew, wait up! I'm sorry!"

Nixon turned around and waited for her to catch up, "You should be. You just about ripped my head off in there," he teased her to lighten the mood.

"I guess I was just being emotional 'cause I had a really great time with you too and then I found out you're married…" she trailed off, looking down at the ground.

"I had a great time too. And I don't take back that kiss…or my bad intentions."

Sadie looked up slightly at him and laughed lightly. Her green eyes quickly went wide and she covered her mouth, "I shouldn't be laughing, you're married! You can't say things like that!"

Nixon just chuckled and said, "Yeah, well, what can ya do?" as if marriage was no big deal.

"So friends?" Sadie asked.

"I guess, only because I know it would break Dick's heart if we weren't," Nixon teased.

"Whatever! You should feel privileged to be my friend," she swatted his chest. Sadie couldn't deny that she was attracted to the man that stood before her, but she would have to push the attraction aside and settle for friendship.

The two developed a strong bond over the next few weeks. They could often be found together in the company of Dick Winters. Fairly harmless flirting was exchanged on a regular basis, but they kept it perfectly professional in the presence of other soldiers. Sadie quickly learned that it was quite beneficial having Easy Company's Intelligence Officer as a close friend, as she usually learned information far before the other men.

At the end of May, Easy Company shipped out to Upottery, England. Everyone became restless, as it seemed like they would be leaving for battle soon. They were living out of tents and it seemed like the entire location was complete mud. Sadie had to admit that she couldn't wait to get out of there, it was so depressing.

A new lieutenant, Buck Compton, had transferred into their Company less than a week before their departure from Aldbourne and he was quickly welcomed into the tight-knit group. Sadie was no exception to liking Buck. He was easy to talk to and always respectful of her position as the only woman in Easy. Not mention, he was pretty easy on the eyes.

It wasn't long before the officers of Easy Company, Sadie included, were briefed about _Operation Overlord_.

"Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont," Nixon began his explanation of what their objective was. He had numerous diagrams and sand tables set up with many reconnaissance photos. They would be landing at "H-Hour on D-Day", according to Nixon. When that was, no one knew quite yet. The exact day was being left up to Eisenhower, but it was definitely soon.

"The Airborne's objective, gentleman, and lady, is to take the town of Carentan," Nixon used his best French accent once again, "thus linking Utah and Omaha into a single, continuous beach-head."

Sadie had to admit, Ike was a genius. This plan was so elaborate and encompassing that there was no way it couldn't work, unless the German's were expecting them, but it didn't seem like they were. Many lives were at risk, but it seemed like the only possibility if they wanted to push the Germans out of France. She studied the maps and sand tables just like the other officers. She and the other nurses would be dropped with their Companies in their specified DZs and then would carry on to the rendezvous. It was at this point that nurses would establish a temporary aid station. The intention was for it to be fairly central and all men should be aiming to pass through it eventually.

They all filed out after the briefing. Sadie leaned against the wall, waiting for Nixon. As luck would have it, he was last. She quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him to her.

"That French accent was kinda sexy," she said in her most seductive tone.

"You think so?" Nixon took a step closer to her, pinning her to the wall. His body and his mouth were mere inches from her.

"Your pronunciation of 'Carentan' could use a_ little_ work, but hey," she smiled widely as she slipped away from him.

"You fucking tease," he called after her as she ran off to the aid station no doubt. He had a huge grin on his face as he just shook his head and walked the other way. Sadie had enjoyed messing with him more and more as they became better friends. Not that either of them minded. It was a welcome distraction to take their minds off what was to come.

Sadie instantly began preparing for D-Day, making sure all medics in E Company had the proper supplies, as well as herself. It wasn't long before she was on the runway with the other men making sure they had all their supplies. She couldn't help but overhear Joe Toye complaining about all the things in his pack. As he started rhyming them off, Sadie mentally went through her own pack to make sure she had all the same items, K and D rations included. Instead of the various weapons, she had medical supplies: a couple things of plasma carefully wrapped so they wouldn't break, extra bandages and gauze, many more morphine surretts, and extra supplies for stitches among other things.

Sadie was still trying to figure out how to strap everything onto her body as Malarkey started complaining about the last minute leg pack they sprung on the men.

"It's just an extra eighty pounds," said Luz simply. "Does anybody have any idea how this work?" he asked holding up the rope like a lost child. Sadie just giggled and continued packing away.

'Hey, Guarnere, you wanna share that ice cream?" Sadie tried to steal a bite from her friend.

"You had your chance," Wild Bill responded, protecting his treat.

"Come on," she begged, "just a bite."

Just then Vest handed out sheets of paper and Luz began reading them off in his best Colonel Sink impression and Sadie lost all interest in ice cream

"Tonight, is the night…" he began, and then continued in his voice. "Of nights. Today, as you read this, you are en route to the great adventure for which you've trained for over two years."

Seeing Luz get so serious got to Sadie and she suddenly got very anxious. She snatched the letter out of George's hands and read it for herself. Suddenly the mission had become real. They were really doing this. She or any of these men could die and she would never see them again. The tall brunette quickly tried to shake the feeling. She was a lieutenant; she had to be there for the men, even if she wasn't _their _superior officer as they so often reminded her.

She grabbed her medic pack and slung it over her shoulder and then strapped her pack on her back. She then tried to lighten the mood by hollering at George, "Hey Luz?"

"Yeah?" was his solemn response.

"Grease up my face for me?"

"I thought you'd never ask. It was always my dream to cover that pretty little face of yours in grease," he joked, and the men near them chuckled. He began to load the paint onto her face.

"Hey! Not too much!" Sadie exclaimed.

"Now Sadie, we gotta grease you up good," he explained, making a tough-looking face, "make you look like a real man."

"Easy Company!" Lieutenant Meehan called and then men started to gather.

Webster glanced at Sadie and then quickly did a double take. "Holy fuck, Sadie! I thought you were a guy!" the mild mannered scholar exclaimed. Sadie just laughed, showing off her teeth that now looked whiter than ever in comparison to the paint, and turned her attention to their CO.

"Easy Company! Listen up!" Lieutenant Meehan calmed the group of restless men. "Channel coast is socked with rain and fog. No jump tonight." There was a general rumble of frustration and discourse amongst the men. "The invasion has been post-poned. We're on a twenty-four hour stand-down."

Sadie sighed as the men began to disperse back to their barracks. She pulled off her helmet and began walking back to the aid station to clean up.

"Lookin' good, Foster," someone said from beside Sadie.

She looked up to see Lewis Nixon smirking at her. "Fuck off, Lew," she snapped back in a teasing tone; then the two went their separate ways.

Sadie wandered over to the aid station in hopes that doing some cleaning, reorganizing and general inventory might take her mind on the next night's events. Once she arrived, she relieved one of the other nurses so that she was the only one there. There were no patients today as all the men were ready to jump, even the ones that weren't completely healthy had begged to be dubbed fit for action. Sadie was once again alone with her thoughts. She quickly unloaded her pack and jacket, but remained in her usual OD's. It didn't take long for her to clean and such, as it had been fairly pristine before she'd left earlier that day. The tall brunette decided maybe she should try to sleep and went to lie down in one of the back rooms. After tossing and turning and still being unable to sleep, she found an old book lying around and attempted to read.

Sadie couldn't focus on a single word the book said. She couldn't stop thinking about their impending doom the next day. What the hell was she thinking jumping into Normandy with nothing but the most basic items? She didn't have the training that the men had; she had no idea what the fuck she was doing. And what would become of her friends? Would she see them again? Dick was a fine soldier, but surely even he could be killed given the wrong circumstances. What if she got over there and didn't know how to help a single injured soldier?

She'd finally had enough of the ludicrous thoughts running through her mind, so she decided to go for a walk to clear her head. It wasn't terribly late yet and most men were watching a movie in one of the tents.

"What are you doing out here so late?" the voice of Lewis Nixon interrupted her thoughts and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

After slowing her heart rate slightly, Sadie replied, "I organized the entire aid station, then I couldn't sleep. It all just became real, y'know?"

"It wasn't before? You _did_ know we would eventually be going off to battle, didn't you?" Nixon tried to lighten the situation to calm Sadie.

"Well, yeah. I guess I've just been so preoccupied with everything. Between the aid station and training I don't really have the energy to think."

"Everything's gonna be fine," the First Lieutenant tried to reassure her.

Sadie stopped in her tracks, a look of worry on her face, "But what if it's not?"

He walked back to her and responded, "Look, you're jumping with Dick, right?"

"Yeah."

"He'll take care of you. He'll get you to the rendezvous and you'll know what to do. You're a good nurse, Sadie, don't underestimate yourself."

"Come on," Sadie grabbed Nixon's hand and led him out of the open. Once they were more concealed between the tents she kissed him.

"What are you-?" Nixon tried to pull away.

"Just shut up before I change my mind," Sadie breathed heavily. Nixon obliged and ran his fingers over her braided hair to grip the back of her head and deepen their kiss. She could once again taste the whiskey on his breath as their tongues fought for dominance. Both of his hands slipped down to her narrow waist and around her back as he pulled her body flush against his. Sadie stood up on her tip-toes to be at level height with him. Her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck as her right hand gripped the front of his shirt to keep her knees from buckling. Her teeth nipped at Nixon's lower lip at they both broke apart.

"Is there somepla-?" Nixon asked, breathing heavily.

"Follow me," Sadie let go of him to lead him back to the aid station. She was walking so quickly, he was having trouble keeping up.

Once they made it to the aid station, Sadie quickly confirmed that there was no one there before she let Lewis touch her. She then grabbed his hand and led him to the back. She let go of his hand to go into a storage room briefly and returned with a condom in hand. She then carried on to the back room she'd been trying to sleep in earlier. Thank goodness this aid station managed to have real beds instead of the standard cots they had in the field. Sadie then kissed him again and threw the hat he was wearing on the ground somewhere. She immediately tried to get his coat off but was struggling with the buttons.

"I love it when a woman takes charge," Nixon chuckled against her lips.

"Shut up and help me. This thing is fuckin' impossible," Sadie said out of frustration.

"What a mouth you've got. I think you've been hanging out with Liebgott too much," Nixon chuckle.

Sadie just stopped and stared at him blankly, "Really? You wanna talk about Liebgott _right now_?"

In response, Nixon stepped back and easily undid the buttons, sliding the jacket off.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Now I am," she smiled at him. "At first I was slightly concerned," she laughed, her green eyes sparkling as he leaned in to recapture her now swollen lips. Nixon worked the first few button of her shirt open and moved down to kiss her neck. Sadie simply sighed in response as she ran her fingers through his hair. He moved back up to her lips as he untucked her open shirt. Sadie frantically tried to work at his buttons, needing to feel his skin against hers.

"Fuck it," he said and pulled the button-up over his head. Throwing it to the side, he pulled Sadie against him. Despite his undershirt, they both relished the new, more intimate contact.

Sadie backed up to the bed and sat down when the back of her knees hit it. She quickly tried to undo the laces to her boots, but that was no easy feat. Nixon also took this time to try to get his boots off as well. Once they were both boot-less, he pounced on her, forcing her to lay down with him on top. Kissing and licking his way down her neck, Nixon bit down lightly on her exposed collarbone, forcing her to gasp and her hips to buck.

That was all Lew needed. He had to have her now. He sat back on his knees and undid her belt, slowly pulling down the zipper as he watched her watch him. Their eyes met as he started to slide her pants down her hips. He slowly pulled them off each leg, making sure to touch her skin as it became exposed. Once the pants were gone, he ran his hand up her soft, muscled thighs and settled himself between them as he leaned in for another kiss.

Sadie could feel his arousal pressing against her and she involuntarily bucked her hips once again. She undid his belt and slipped his pants down exposing his excitement. Lew couldn't control himself anymore. He quickly put the condom on and whipped off her panties. He positioned himself near her entrance and could feel that she was ready.

"You've done this before, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it's been a while," Sadie confirmed.

"Just relax," he tried to calm her.

He slid in slowly and they both sighed. There had been weeks of foreplay leading up to this and now they were finally going to be satisfied. Nixon kept the pace slow at first until Sadie adjusted. She was so tight, he knew he wouldn't last long. Once he felt she was ready, he thrust a little harder and pulled her left leg up over his hip. This made her back arch and he knew he'd hit the right spot. Their speed increased as they met each other thrust for thrust. It wasn't many more thrusts before their kisses became open-mouthed gasps and soon Sadie quietly moaned, "Lew" as she saw stars, bringing Nixon over the edge as well.

Lewis collapsed on top of her and tried to hold his weight up. There wasn't room on the single bed for him to simply roll off of her, so he pulled out and got up to dispose of the condom. Sadie adjusted so that he could fit back on the bed better. Nixon slipped back into the bed and Sadie rest on his chest as he pulled the sheet over both of them.

"We're pretty good at that, don't cha think?" Sadie played with his chest hair that was peaking out over his undershirt. In their rush Nixon was still wearing an undershirt and Sadie was still in her bra with an open button-up shirt.

"We're pretty good, but I think we could get better with practice," Nixon smiled down at nurse with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Nu-uh," Sadie replied, sitting up with some of her hair falling in her face. "This isn't happening again. You're _married_. Ugh, I can't believe I did this," she said, running her hands down her face.

"Would you relax?" Nixon pulled her back down his chest and kissed her head. Sadie snuggled into him and Nixon began playing with her hair that had fallen out of her braid.

Sadie was slowly drifting off to sleep when she suddenly shot up. "We need to go."

"It's late. No one's gonna know where we are or what we're doing," Nixon tried to calm her.

"They're gonna be wondering where I am at the nurses' quarters. There's only three of us there so it's pretty obvious when someone's missing. And I'm pretty sure _someone _has to be missing you somewhere."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Nixon slowly sat up and Sadie quickly untangled herself from the sheet and got out of the bed.

The young nurse quickly pulled her hair back into a low chignon, hoping no one would notice the change in hairstyle. She then dressed quickly, feeling slightly self-conscious around the handsome man in the same room.

Once they were dressed they walked to the front room of the aid station. Before stepping outside Sadie quickly asked, "Do I look okay?"

"You mean do you look like you just had sex?" Nixon stated plainly.

"Lew!"

"You look beautiful," he complimented her with a smile. Her gaze softened and her eyes sparkled.

"Thank you," she replied before adjusting his tie and giving him a last kiss on the lips. They broke apart and walked out the door of the aid station together.

As they both walked their separate ways Nixon hollered, "Hey Sadie!" Sadie turned around with a confused look on her face. "If I don't see you tomorrow, I'll see you in France, okay?" he asked, as a last effort to calm her and boost her confidence about their mission.

"Promise?" she asked hopefully.

"Promise," Nixon gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned before going to off to bed.

The next evening, Winters supervised his platoon as they finished their last minute preparations before they boarded the plane. They were all strapping each other into their various bags and making sure straps were tight.

"Take care, Dick," Nixon came out of nowhere and clapped him on the shoulder.

"You too," Winters responded.

"And Dick?" Nixon had one last request. "Look out for her, okay?" he asked as he watched Sadie.

"Sure…" Winters answered, suspecting there was something more to the request.

Air sickness pills were passes out to everyone and Winters wished them luck and promised he'd meet them at the assembly area. Before she knew it, Sadie was being helped from both sides into the plane. She gave Shifty a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes as she sat next to him. She was sitting closer to the back of the plane, meaning that she would be one of the last ones to jump, so that when they landed she would hopefully be as close to Dick as possible. Once everyone was in a seated, the plane started to move. No one said anything, no one even looked at each other. They simply sat their in silence, engulfed in their own thoughts. Sadie was feeling a little drowsy, probably from the air sickness pills, and decided to distract herself by focusing on her breathing. In a matter of hours they would be in France.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I really hope people are enjoying it so far! I'm working full-time over the holidays so it's a little harder than I thought to get some decent writing done…but hopefully I can get more up when I have a few days off. Please review to let me know your thoughts! Thanks again!**


	4. 2: Day of Days

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**A/N: Thanks to EmmyMK and sorry we're full for the reviews! And thanks to everyone else who's been reading!**

**Day of Days**

In the air, Sadie was running through medical procedures in her head, much like one tries to go through all the information they know before a test. She was so nervous she quickly ran out of procedures off the top of her head and prayed she would know what to do if a situation presented itself. She then mentally went through all the sand tables and maps as best she could.

It felt like hardly any time had passed when Winters told them to stand and hook themselves in. She then checked the gear of the man in front of her. Sadie could tell they were all just as nervous as her when the man behind her didn't try to grab her ass or grope her excessively like they so often had on their practice jumps. They were to stand like that for ten to twenty minutes as the planes got closer to their DZ and dropped in altitude.

Out of no where the plane started to whip around and German antiaircraft guns could vaguely be heard over the roar of the engines. Sadie wanted nothing more than to get out the plane as fast as she could, but they weren't close enough yet. They were all stumbling around, grabbing each other and the sides of the plane for support. Finally, the green light that told them it was okay to jump went on and Winters quickly began ushering them out the door.

As Sadie got to the door she looked wide-eyed at Winters and he gave her a nod that assured her he would meet her on the ground. With that, she jumped from the plane. At first she closed her eyes, but then she opened them and tried unsuccessfully to locate any landmarks in the surrounding area. As she was falling, Sadie prayed that she wouldn't be hit with the antiaircraft artillery or falling debris that was flying down around her.

Upon successful landing, Sadie quickly got rid of her parachute and took cover in the nearby trees. She looked around frantically and saw no sign of Dick or anyone else she knew. What if they didn't make it? What if she was stuck here, behind enemy lines, all alone, with no one but the Germans for company? She decided to wander a bit, her heart beating rapidly in her ears as she breathed heavily.

Suddenly she heard, "Flash!" come from somewhere in the nearby bushes.

"Thunder!" she whispered loudly, whipping around, searching for where the voice came from.

Malarkey, Wild Bill, and couple other men emerged from the bushes. Sadie had never been more relieved in her life. She wasn't alone! She wouldn't have to try to find her way to the assembly area by herself!

"Bill!" Sadie practically pounced on the slightly shorter man. "I've never been so happy to see your ugly mug!"

"Hey! Watch who you're calling ugly," was his only reply, as he pulled her off of him.

Sadie just ignored him and continued, "I could almost kiss you!"

"So why don't you?" he raised an eyebrow suggestively as he pulled her back to him.

"I said _almost_," she laughed, and pushed his face away as she stepped back.

"If you two are done, we have places to go, maybe some Germans to kill," Malarkey said impatiently.

"Aw, Malark, I'm glad to see you too," Sadie pretended to be sympathetic to tease him.

Malarkey tried not to smile, but eventually gave in. "Come on, I think it's this way," he said, shaking his head as he continued to smile.

They walked a bit and found a railroad track. It seemed like a good idea to follow it since it had to lead somewhere. It wasn't long before Malarkey and Joe Toye were arguing.

"Flash!" came from the bushes once again.

"Thunder!" they all replied and crouched down slightly, wary of whom might be coming out of the bushes.

"Lieutenant, is that you?" Guarnere asked, as Winters emerged from the bushes along with a group of men. The two groups greeted each other and Sadie simply gave Dick a huge grin from across the group, which he returned with a small smile and a nod.

"Guarnere," Dick said, clearly getting back to business.

"Sir?" replied Bill.

"Up front with Hall," he instructed.

"Who the hell is Hall?" Guarnere grumbled as he moved to the front of the pack.

"Foster," Winters said a little more softly.

"Sir?" Sadie looked to her friend for a command.

"Stick with me," he ordered, and she nodded in understanding. "Do _not_ leave my side."

"Yes, sir."

They walked along the train tracks until Hall raised his hand to stop them. They all kneeled down as Winters ran ahead to see what was going on. Faint German voices could be heard below. Winters quickly directed the men into positions and since he didn't have a weapon, he stayed behind.

"Do you have a gun, Sadie?" he asked quietly.

"No, sir," she replied innocently. The nurses hadn't been given any sort of weapon before the jump, but now she was beginning to think a gun might have been a good idea.

"Stay behind me," he nudged her behind him, protecting her in case any bullets or other rubble ricocheted. "Wait for my command," Winters said to the rest of the men.

The men got into position and waited for the German soldiers to walk under the bridge. Before Winters said anything Guarnere started shooting and the rest men in their group had no choice but to join him. Sadie gripped the back of Dick's uniform tightly and tried to figure out what was going on, even though she couldn't see anything.

In a matter of seconds there was only one gun left firing and then Germans were all laying on the ground, dead.

Winters jumped down and shoved Guarnere to make him stop, "That's enough, Guarnere!" Guarnere turned around with a menacing look on his face that he directed at his superior. "Everyone okay?" Winters asked the rest of the group, his eyes not leaving Wild Bill.

There was a couple mumblings of "Yes, sir," as the men started to move.

"Next time I say 'wait for my command', you wait for my command, Sergeant," Winters ordered Guarnere.

"Yes, sir," Guarnere replied through a clenched jaw.

Sadie was watching the whole exchange until Lipton tugged on her shoulder to turn her around. She was shaking pretty badly from the first German encounter they had just experienced.

"You alright, Sadie?" Lipton asked gently.

"Yeah, Lip. Just a little shaken up is all," she tried to calm her heart. "Haven't really been this close to a firing gun before," she tried to laugh it off lightly.

"Unfortunately, I think you're going to have to get used to it," Lipton gave her a sad smile. "Come on, we better get walking," he said comfortingly, as he put his arm around her shoulders and directed her down the road.

She stepped over bodies as they went. Glancing down at the men, Sadie couldn't help but think that this was only the beginning of the death she would see.

The group continued on until they came across the remains of small cabin and a truck sometime around sunrise. There looked to be a dead paratrooper caught in the trees as well. After Lipton and Wynn deemed the area safe, the men moved in to take a look for themselves.

Dick immediately ditched his German weapon and started untangling a rifle from the dead paratrooper caught in a tree as everyone looked on. "Anybody need supplies or ammo, now's the time to get it," he hollered.

Everyone scattered to see what they could find, except for Sadie. She simply stood and observed.

"Here," Dick offered a pistol to her that he had taken off the body.

"Kinda morbid, don't cha think?" she shied away from the weapon.

"Do you want to protect yourself or not?" he looked at her like she was being stupid, which she was. Where else was she supposed to get a gun?

"Yes," she responded quickly and snatched the handgun out of his hand.

Dick just chuckled and asked, "Do you know how to use it?"

"Aim and shoot right?"

"Yep. Safety on, safety off," Dick clicked the safety on the gun on and off to demonstrate. "Now pray you won't have to use it."

There was a rush of what sounded like fighter pilots and bombs suddenly passing overhead. Sadie dropped to her knees and looked around frantically.

"It's the Navy," Lipton stated.

That meant only one thing:

"The landings have started," Winters said it before Sadie could. "Let's go," he ordered.

Guarnere continued to be an asshole as they trudged on. She couldn't blame him for being moody, after all he just found out his brother died. But he could shut his mouth and grieve to himself. But that was just not the Bill Guarnere way it seemed.

They reached the assembly area not long after and it appeared that many other men had as well. Sadie wandered a bit, not paying attention to much as she looked for a potential field hospital. When looking around, she saw Winters talking to Buck.

"Buck!" Sadie practically skipped over to the two.

"Sadie!" Buck's blues eyes lit up as he scooped the shorter nurse up into a hug. "It's good to see you!" He gently set her down and returned his attention to Dick, realizing he hadn't properly greeted him. "It's good to see you too, Dick."

"Yeah, you too, Buck," Dick replied, shaking the other Lieutenants hand. "What's the situation?" he asked, getting back to business.

"Not good. Ninety percent of the men are still unaccounted for."

"Lieutenant Meehan?"

"No one's seen him, or anyone from his plane. You know, if he's missing, wouldn't that put you in line to be the next commander of Easy?" Buck suggested. Sadie looked at Dick with an impressed smirk on her face.

Winters just ignored them and turned to a soldier walking by, "Hey, Lieutenant Speirs, how many of Dog Company got assembled?"

"Handful, maybe twenty," the good-looking lieutenant shrugged.

"You're the only officer that made it?"

"So far…still waiting for officers," he answered Winters, then turned to Buck to ask, "You got some cigarettes?"

"Yeah," Buck responded and handed him a pack. Speirs just walked off with it and Buck called after him, "Hey, keep the pack!"

Sadie just chuckled and clapped both her friends on the shoulder. "Well, I should get going, find that aid station, save some lives. You two have fun."

The men both smiled and laughed at the younger woman and bid her goodbye.

As an afterthought she turned around and called back to them, "And stay safe! I don't need to be saving your sorry asses as well!"

"Yeah, yeah, get going!" Buck waved her off, and Dick simply shook his head and waved.

Sadie followed some wounded soldiers into the local church. After walking inside, she could tell she was in the right spot. The pews of the little church had been pushed to side to make way for the seriously wounded. There were men bleeding to death, some barely conscious while others were screaming in agony lying in the middle of building. Some tables had been brought in, but it was clear there were not enough as some men were laid out on the ground. The less seriously wounded men surrounded them, some sitting on the pews, others standing and waiting their turn. It seemed wherever Sadie turned there was blood.

"Sadie!" Megan yelled, snapping Sadie out of her daze.

"Megan! You made it!" Sadie exclaimed, happy that her best friend had made it safely enough. She looked exhausted and was covered in blood, it was clear that she'd been there for a while.

"I'm so happy you're here! We don't have enough hands," she quickly directed the taller nurse over to a place to leave her pack.

"Is there no one else here?" inquired Sadie as she unpacked supplies from her bag.

"There's a couple of us, but not everyone's here yet."

"Okay," Sadie exhaled to focus, "where do you need me?"

"Why don't you start with some of the more minor wounds? You were always faster at assessments and stitches than I was."

"Sounds good," Sadie grabbed the supplies she would need.

"I'll just be helping the doctors with the men in the middle, making them comfortable," Megan explained. She was always good at calming the men. Sadie was too, but a pretty, little blonde girl like Megan had always comforted the severely hurt. There was an innocence about her that was soothing and her smile was consoling even in the worst of times.

Sadie moved on to help the numerous men littering the small church. Her training took over, just as Lew had said it would. She couldn't count the number of men she'd helped. She hardly had to think as she stitched and bandaged men up like new. A few men had been sent back to Aldbourne, having seen all the action they needed for a lifetime. She'd even helped her friend, Popeye, when he'd come in with a bullet in his ass, luckily it hadn't hit anything major, but he wouldn't be sitting properly for quite some time. It was late afternoon before she realized it.

They got orders that they were moving out to Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont. Sadie and the other nurses quickly packed up their supplies and loaded up the seriously wounded men. Sadie was the last to leave as she finished bandaging up a soldier's arm where a German bullet had grazed him. She sent him off with directions to keep it as clean and dry as possible, then wandered out of the now vacant church.

The men were all headed to the road that led out of town. Sadie headed over herself to see if there was anyone she knew that she could hitch a ride with. As luck would have it, Nix and Winters pulled up on a tank. Winters moved higher up on the tank so there was room for the young nurse.

"Your carriage m'lady," Nixon joked and offered her a hand up.

"Why thank you, kind sir," Sadie took his hand.

"Watch your step, it's slippery," he said as he pulled her up.

At the last second Sadie slipped, yelping as she landed half on Nixon, half on her intended seat.

"Whoa there, you alright?" Lew asked as he laughed and tried to pull her up into her proper spot.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sadie was laughing and blushing as she tried to climb off Nixon in the least awkward way possible.

"I told you it was slippery," he shook his head, still smiling at the blushing woman.

Sadie sighed as she finally got situated. "I forgot how nice it was to sit."

"Did the aid station work out?" Winters inquired from his new perch. He was curious to see if the experimental idea had worked to their benefit.

Sadie twisted around to see who was speaking, "Oh hey Dick! Yeah, I think it worked really well." Then a realization dawned on her, "Oh, did I take your spot? I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I like the view better from up here," he responded kindly, looking out over the horizon.

"Yeah, I like the view much better with you up there too," Nixon put in while gazing over at Sadie. Luckily no one had heard him but the woman sitting next to him.

"Watch the road, Lew," Sadie responded, a warning tone in her voice.

They all turned back to the road, Sadie and Nixon sitting close enough together that their legs were touching. Sadie nudged Lew with her shoulder to know that she wasn't actually pissed, but he couldn't go around saying those things in public. He simply elbowed her back, which made her giggle quietly as she looked at him. Winters saw the whole exchange and had a pretty good idea as to what was going on. It was something he'd come to expect of Lew, but definitely not of Sadie. Not that he should be overly surprised, Lew was a charming man. How else had he remained in 101st?

Darkness fell on their trip and fatigue set in. Being on her feet all day and having her adrenaline pumping, Sadie hadn't realized how exhausted she was. She yawned and snuggled into her seat just a little bit more. In response, Nixon placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a comforting rub. Normally Sadie wouldn't stand for it, but it was dark and she was tired and his touch seemed to make everything better for the time being. She looked over and gave him a small bleary-eyed smile, which he returned.

It seemed like no time had passed and they'd arrived at their destination. The Americans had secured the town and it was evident that supplies and men from all over were moving there. Sadie thanked the men for the lift and scurried off to find out where help was needed. She'd only helped a few men when Nixon came looking for her. He pulled her outside into a side alleyway, where they wouldn't be seen.

"Is everything okay?" Sadie asked, her eyebrows knotted in worry. Her face was covered in dirt and a little bit of blood. The hair that had come lose from her braid was now sticking to the sweat on her forehead. Overall, she probably looked pretty disgusting, but Nixon couldn't deny that he was slowly growing more and more attracted to the nurse standing before him.

"Easy's moving out in less than an hour," he responded dumbly.

"I heard. But you know I'm not going with you, right? I'm staying at the aid station," Sadie tried to explain, clearly confused as to why he had pulled her away.

"I just…I needed to see you before we left," Lewis bluntly stated.

"Look Lew, I told you-"

"No, not that," Nixon cut her off after it was clear that she was taking it the wrong way. "I just needed to see that you were alright one last time."

"Don't talk like that. You'll be back. We're supposed to be shipping back to England in a couple days," Sadie tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, well it's looking like it's going to be longer than that."

"Oh," was her only reply and she crossed her arms. They stood there in silence and not making eye contact, lost in their own thoughts until Sadie directly asked, "What are we doing, Lew?"

"What?" he asked, snapping his attention back to the woman before him.

"This," Sadie pointed between him and herself, "You and me?"

"I don't know," Nixon answered honestly.

"You're married, Lew," she brought up once again.

"Would you calm down about that?" Nixon raised his voice. Luckily there was too much going on for people close-by to hear. "Yes, I'm married…to a woman I haven't spoken to in years and right now I don't really give a damn about her. All I know is that I like spending time with you and I don't really wanna stop."

"Okay," said Sadie plainly.

"Okay?" Nixon smiled.

"Okay," Sadie smiled back as she leaned in to kiss him on the lips softly, yet deeply. Nixon returned the kiss. Sadie broke away and buried her face in his shoulder. She gripped the back of his shirt like she would never let go.

Thinking she was upset and knowing she must've had a rough day, Nixon rubbed her back and whispered, "Hey, it's okay."

"I know, I'm just glad you're okay," Sadie mumbled into the side of his neck. She leaned back to look him in the eye as she smiled. Without letting go of him she said, "After all the death I've seen today, I'm just glad you're okay."

Nixon's only response was to cup her cheek as he gave her a caring smile.

"I have to get back. And then I need to clean up and take a nap," Sadie said kind of suddenly.

"I wasn't gonna say anything…but you look pretty awful," Nixon flirted with the brunette.

"Fuck you!" exclaimed Sadie as she smiled in disbelief, "I look great."

Nixon just rubbed her arms and pecked her on the lips. He then asked, "So I guess I'll see you…some time at…some place?"

"I guess so," Sadie responded and started to walk away. "Stay safe, okay?"

"I always do," he called after her.

**A/N: Another chapter up! I'm kinda stuck on the next chapter so I thought I would share this since it might be a little while for the next one! But I promise the couple of chapters after that will flow more easily. Thanks again for reading! And please review if you would like! I would LOVE to know what you think! **


	5. 3: Every Mile a Memory

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**A/N: Thanks to EmmyMK for the review and to everyone who's been reading! Sorry this took so long to get up, but it's a long one! Thanks for being patient**

**Every Mile a Memory**

Sadie and Megan worked well into the night. Only twelve of the fifteen nurses that jumped had made it and there was more than enough work to be done. There were a couple of field surgeons, but the work was never ending. Sadie could tell it was taking its toll on her friend. Megan had been with dying soldiers all day. They had switched back and forth in terms of duties and responsibilities, but it always seemed like Megan was having the toughest time.

Sadie was bustling around when she looked to her friend. Megan was sitting there holding the bloody hand of man that had just passed, brushing his hair off his dirty, tear-stained face. Sadie didn't have to see her face to know that her friend was trying to hold back her own tears.

"Why don't you go take a break?" Sadie suggested. "Clean up a bit and get some rest?"

"Huh?" Megan wiped her eyes as she sniffled.

"Come on, Meg, you've been on your feet all day, take a break," Sadie tried to push her with some urgency in her voice.

"It's okay, I'm fine. What needs to be done?" Megan tried to re-focus, while trying contain her tears.

"Get some rest. That's an order," Sadie pulled rank on the sergeant, purely out of concern. Megan nodded like a child that had just been scolded and began to walk away. Sadie followed and wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders, guiding her to an empty hallway. Megan immediately started sobbing.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be like this," Megan cried into the taller nurse's shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay," Sadie rubbed her back to try to calm her.

"I should've been ready for this. I mean, we're at war for fuck's sake!"

"Nothing could've prepared _anyone_ for this."

"Ugh, I'm such a mess," Megan said after a few minutes once she started to calm down a bit.

"No you're not. It just means you care and that's what makes you one of the best nurses 101st has. We're lucky to have you here," reassured Sadie.

"Thanks, Sadie," Megan sniffled, much more calm than she'd been a few moments before.

"I'm just being honest," Sadie smiled. "Now why don't you take a couple hours? Get some sleep and meal."

"Alright," the blonde complied and walked off to find a place to rest.

Sadie found that helping the men was a good distraction. It kept from thinking if Lew, Dick and her other friends in Easy Company were alright. She tried to tell herself that they were, but there were obvious doubts. She was able to catch a couple hours of restless sleep, but it wasn't overly helpful.

She was just finishing up the last couple stitches on a patient when a man was brought in, writhing in pain. Sadie glanced over and then did a double take as she thought he looked awfully familiar. He had dark hair and was about the same height and build as Nixon.

"Hey Sandra, finish this up for me, will ya?" Sadie asked the nearest nurse.

"Sure, what's going on?" Sandra inquired as she took over.

"Thanks," Sadie answered distractedly, trying to get a better look at the man. She made her way over and pushed her way through the group of doctors and nurses surrounding him, trying to save his life. She wasn't even paying attention; she just had to make sure it wasn't him. She looked on with a terrified expression as she saw that he wasn't who she thought he was.

"Sadie, are you okay?" asked Rebecca. She was trying to help save the man, but Sadie was just standing there, unmoving, which was very uncharacteristic of the young nurse.

Sadie just glanced up, looking Rebecca in the eye and then darted out of the building. She ran down the alleyway her and Lew had been in the night before. She started pacing back and forth with her hands on her head, hyperventilating. Finally realizing what was happening, Sadie bent over to catch her breath and slow her breathing. After her panic attack had passed, she sat down, leaning against the wall with her arms resting on her bent knees. She then began to cry. She cried for all the men that had died, and for their families that would never see them again. She cried for her friends that were now in battle. She cried for her friends in the aid station that had to see so much death and she cried for herself. She'd never felt so utterly helpless in her entire life. Men were dying all around her and there was nothing she could do to save them all. The men she'd come to know and respect and even befriend were now fighting far away and there was nothing she could do to protect them. This war had become so frustrating and infuriating, but there was nothing she could do but to simply carry on.

After her crying had stopped and her breathing had evened out she leaned her head back against the wall. She simply looked to the sky and prayed that she would get to see Lewis some time in some place just as he had promised, hopefully sooner rather than later. In fact, she wished to see any man from Easy, just so she would know that they were all okay. Sadie then dried her eyes and wiped her nose and went back inside. She carried on as if nothing had happened and if anyone noticed her red eyes, they didn't say a word. She wasn't the first to have a breakdown and she definitely wouldn't be the last.

**D-Day Plus 6**

Lieutenant Foster, Sergeant McNeil, and fellow nurse, Sergeant Thompson, had been plucked from the aid station in Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont and reassigned to aiding the men in Carentan for the time being. It seemed that there was a planned assault on the town and many wounded men were probable. The nurses left early that morning, before dawn, and waited with Major Strayer and the other high ranking officers until the town was secured; then they went about their business, doing what they were trained to do.

"Hey! Get the fuck outta the way!" Sadie heard a ruckus and poked her head of the room she was cleaning to see what was going on.

She saw Joseph Liebgott and another soldier carrying what looked like a badly wounded man between them on a stretcher. They were unsuccessfully trying to manoeuvre their way through the other wounded men to find someone to help their comrade.

"God damnit!" Leibgott yelled again, "Where are all the fuckin' doctors?"

"Hey Lieb! Bring him in here!" Sadie hollered down the hall, ducking back into the room to prepare for an incoming trauma.

"'Bout fuckin' time," Liebgott mumbled as they carried the man in.

"Tipper?" Sadie was shocked when she recognized the man on the stretcher. Edward Tipper looked up at her, his one good eye wide with fear. Sadie composed herself and tried to calm the man, "You're gonna be alright, Tip, we'll fix you up." She then looked up at Liebgott and directed them over to the table. "Put him down gently," she instructed as they set him on the table. "Thanks boys, we got it from here," she tried to guide the men out, but Liebgott wasn't moving.

"Is he gonna be alright?" asked Liebgott with his arm crossed over his chest, not taking his eyes off his friend. Sadie had to admit, Tipper didn't look good. His leg was a wreck and half his face wasn't recognizable through all the blood and swelling. She glanced at Tipper as a field doctor and a medic started to work on him.

"We're gonna do everything we can, Joe, trust me," Sadie touched his forearm to reassure him. "Now come on, let us help him," she continued to lead him out of the room.

"Just...make sure they do their fuckin' jobs," Liebgott responded before he turned to leave.

"You got it, Joe."

Sadie quickly set to work on her friend. They weren't close, but she counted any man in her company as her friend and had the utmost respect for him. Upon closer inspection it was quite clear that Tipper had suffered two broken legs, shrapnel damage to his left elbow and right knee, and his left eye was destroyed. After some time, she and the field doctor were able to stabilize Tipper for transport back to England. It wouldn't be easy, but Sadie was hopeful the man would recover.

The tall nurse was quickly going around to make sure things were under control, when she wandered into a room where Doc Roe was fixing up Winters' ankle. She waited for Doc to finish trying to subtly instruct Dick to stay off his feet and rest before she jumped in.

"Dick, I was hoping I would see you," Sadie glanced down at his wounded ankle, "just not like this."

"It's nothing, just a ricochet," explained Easy's new CO. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, as you know, Carentan is kind of central location and the intention is to make into a lodgement for all American operations. Men from the beaches are gonna be coming through here along with supplies so it only makes sense to have an aid station here. Obviously, it'll become more permanent once the town is more secure, but for now it's just me and a couple others," Sadie explained optimistically.

Just then, Buck walked in and gave Sadie a warm smile. He and Dick exchanged glances like they wanted to talk business if she was done.

"Good to see ya, Dick, I'll talk to you later. You too, Doc, Buck," Sadie nodded to each man in turn and left them to discuss orders.

She went outside quickly to see if she could spot Liebgott to update him on his friend. She spotted him having a smoke just by the corner of the building and jogged over.

"Hey, Lieb, Tip's gonna be okay," she greeted him with a smile.

"Holy shit. I thought he was a goner," Liebgott said nonchalantly as he stamped out his cigarette.

"We'll send him back to England and hopefully he'll be just fine."

"Good," was his simple response.

"Just wanted to let you know," Sadie turned to leave and get back to work.

"Hey, Foster," Liebgott called out to her and she turned around. "Thanks."

"No problem, Joe," Sadie gave him a small smile and continued back inside.

Not long after, Nixon stumbled upon Sadie. She was in a room with a civilian family and it looked like she was bandaging up a small scrape on the youngest of two daughters. He just stood in the doorway and observed the interaction between the nurse and the Carentan residents and it took him a moment to realize they were speaking fluently in French. Sadie put the finishing touches on the bandage, kissed it better and helped the girl down from the table.

"_Merci bien,_" the girl's father said as Sadie showed the family to the door.

"_De rien, monsieur,_" Sadie replied with a smile. "_Au revoir. Au revoir, Marie,_" she said goodbye to the little girl and her family.

"I didn't know you spoke French," Lewis stated from the side door, joining Sadie in the now vacant room.

"My parents made me learn it," Sadie replied as she cleaned up her supplies. "This is the first time it's actually been useful."

"So are you fluent?" he asked as he made his way across to her.

Sadie stopped what she was doing and faced him. She studied him as he stood there without his helmet or pack, making it clear that he'd been in town for a while and must have been planning to stay for the time being. Placing a hand on her hip she replied, "You know, I think I'm supposed to be, but I really only know the basic conversational stuff."

Lewis chuckled as he stepped into Sadie's personal space. "So is that why you're always criticizing my accent?" he teased.

"Nah, I just do that 'cause I know it gets to you," she stepped closer to him, almost as if to challenge him. They just stared into each others eyes, waiting for the other to break.

Sadie was the first to crack. She grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his urgently. Nixon responded by pulling her body against his and pressed her up against the nearby table. Both realized they couldn't take it any further, at least not then and there, and slowly parted.

"As much as I would like to stay and continue, and believe me, I _really_ would, I have to get back to regiment," Nixon said.

"Um, yeah, me too. I mean, I should get back to work too," Sadie replied. Instead of moving, they just stood there, looking into each others eyes. Lew's hands were still gripping Sadie's waist and her hands were resting on his biceps. They continued to look into each other's eyes, memorizing every detail so that they would hopefully be able to recall them once they parted. Lew's eyes were very dark, almost black, but Sadie liked how Lew always seemed to look like he was squinting just the tiniest bit and it gave him this handsome, brooding appeal.

Just then there was a light knock on the door. Sadie quickly jumped away from Nixon and they both turned to see who had knocked. Dick stood there awkwardly, having clearly seen the way his friends were gazing at each other.

"Um, Nix, we gotta go," Dick said slowly as he pointed back over his shoulder to emphasize his point.

"Right. Yeah. I'll find ya later, Sadie," Nixon said nonchalantly as he started to leave.

"Take care, Lew. Bye Dick," Sadie said awkwardly, still blushing.

"Bye Sadie," Dick responded, trying to pretend like he'd seen nothing.

The two men left and Sadie hopped up on the table to think about what had just happened. She tried to tell herself that Dick hadn't really seen anything and that he wouldn't be able to draw any conclusions from what he _did_ see. But she was just lying to herself. Of course he knew what was going on now. The man was close friends with both of them, and he wasn't stupid. She just prayed he wouldn't get them court marshalled.

"What are you doing?" Winters asked Nixon with a scolding tone in his voice as he limped alongside his friend.

"What do you mean?" Nixon played dumb. He would rather avoid a full-on confrontation from Winters, so he was going to try to play this out as long as possible, hoping time would calm the CO a bit.

"That. With Sadie."

"Oh that? That's fine," Lewis continued with the nonchalance.

"Be careful there, Nix," Dick warned.

"I know what I'm doing."

"Does _she_ know what your doing?" Dick made it clear that he was more concerned about Sadie in this situation.

"Yeah, yeah. We're on the same page," Nixon casually waived the whole topic off.

Thankfully, Dick changed the subject to more pressing matters. It seemed that most of the German defences had left Carentan to regroup and were expected to return to reclaim the city. It was up to the 506th to defend the outskirts of the south side of city. Easy would, once again, be moving out.

It wasn't long before Sadie heard of the German attack to attempt to reclaim Carentan. More wounded men began to pile into the temporary aid station and she learned that Easy and the other men of 101st were holding the line just south of town. By night fall things had calmed down a bit and they were able to move the severely wounded out of town, back to the beach, and then back to England.

"What are you doing here, Lew? Shouldn't you be at regiment?" Sadie asked as Nixon wandered into the same room they had been in earlier that day. Sadie was bustling about gathering unused supplies as she checked on the sleeping men that were now recovering in the room.

"Nah, things are fairly quiet now. I came by because I thought you might wanna take a break," he suggested.

"Why, Lieutenant, you hardly know me. How could you possibly know what I want?" Sadie replied coyly over her shoulder as she walked out of the room with a box full of supplies in her arms.

"Oh, I think I know you pretty well," Nixon smiled in response, adding a wink which caused her to blush. "So how 'bout that break? You looked exhausted," he pressed as he stood in front of her, a table separating them. She was rifling through the box and sorting the contents out onto the table.

"Gee, thanks," she replied sarcastically, glancing up at him through her lashes. To be honest, she _was_ exhausted, as were the other nurses and field doctors, but there were things that needed to be done and she'd just told Maggie Thompson to have a rest not an hour earlier.

"Come on," the dark-haired man was relentless, "I've got an extra D-ration we can split," he bribed her.

Sadie stopped what she was doing and narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read the man in front of her. "Maybe you know me better than I thought," she gave in and Lew just chuckled.

The two Lieutenants walked outside together where it had quieted down significantly and didn't reek of blood and death. Walking down the side of the building, they stopped and sat, leaning against the wall.

Nixon pulled out the chocolate bar he had promised Sadie and passed it over. She opened it hungrily as he said, "So tell me about yourself." Sadie simply gave him a quizzical look as she bit into the chocolate bar and chewed on it. "Well given our…situation, I _do_ know less about you than I should," he elaborated, "So, where're you from?"

"Wisconsin," the nurse answered as she tried to pass the chocolate bar back, to which Nixon declined.

"Siblings?" he kept the interrogation going as he pulled his flask out from one of his many pockets.

"Four younger brothers," Sadie focused on the chocolate bar once again, realizing she hadn't eaten in quite a while.

"What about your parents?" Nixon continued, taking a sip of the whiskey in the flask.

"My father's a professor and my mother's a nurse."

"Ah, so following in your mother's footsteps," he offered her the flask.

"What's in it?" she inquired she looked at the flask warily.

"Vat 69," Nixon replied with a grin. Sadie snatched it out of his hand and took a swig.

She winced as the burn hit her throat and then responded to Lew's earlier statement, "Yeah, she wasn't happy about me becoming a nurse, but here I am." Nixon just gave her a look as he took his flask back. Most mothers would be proud to have their daughters go on to higher education, especially if they became successful nurses. Sadie noticed his expression and explained, "She was a nurse in the Great War and she saw some awful things, things she didn't want me to see. But I'm glad I'm able to help." She passed him the chocolate bar back without looking him in the eye. "Okay, so what about you? Where are you from?" she changed the topic, not wishing to dwell on the thought of nursing the severely wounded men.

"Originally? New York City." Nixon answered, noticing she was quick to change the subject, but not saying anything.

Sadie looked at him excitedly then up into the night sky. "I always wanted to go to New York," she said dreamily.

"When this is all over I'll take you there," Nixon looked her in the eye as she glanced over at him. He passed her the flask, which she casually accepted.

Sadie giggled as she shook her head at him and then took a sip of the whiskey, hardly noticing the burn this time. "Come on, Lew, don't make promises you don't plan on keeping."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Nixon, slightly offended.

"Let's call this what it is. Back home I'm a nurse in a small city in the mid-west. You're a successful business man who's married. We're completely different people there than we are here…let's not pretend that this is something real," Sadie clarified as she handed the alcohol back over, the chocolate snack long forgotten. She tried to be nonchalant about what she was saying, but there was a sad undertone to her voice.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Nixon sighed as he knocked back another mouthful of his favourite drink.

The two sat in a comfortable silence as they watched their surroundings and the night sky. Sadie was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol she'd just ingested. When she began to yawn excessively from both exhaustion and the result of the whiskey she decided she should get moving to ward off the tiredness.

"Well, I should probably go," she said as she stood up. "Whoops," she yelped and gripped the wall, realizing just how much the alcohol had influenced her. Nixon chuckled as she regained her balance and brushed off the dirt that was undoubtedly sticking to her backside.

"Alright," Nixon stood as well and they walked back toward the door to the aid station together, "make sure you get some rest."

"Yes sir," Sadie mocked him despite the drained look in her eyes. "Thanks for the chocolate…and the company," she said as she stopped and turned to face him and say goodbye.

"Anytime," Nixon gave her a genuine smile.

"Well, goodnight," Sadie prolonged their parting as she slowly stepped backwards into the doorway.

"Come here," Nixon hooked his fingers into her two front belt loops and pulled her towards him. He slowly placed a soft, warm kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, the younger brunette stood there with half-lidded eyes and a content smile on her face.

"Well, I should…go," Sadie bit her lip and gestured over her shoulder to the door and she stepped backwards once again.

"I'll see ya, Sadie," Nixon smiled at her, fully aware of the effect he was having on her at the moment.

"Bye, Nix," she smiled at him one last time, then turned and left to get back to work yet again.

Once inside, Sadie almost immediately stumbled upon Megan. The blonde nurse appeared to be cheerful and well-rested.

"So what's going on with you and Lieutenant Nixon?" Megan questioned. Sadie heart began to race, afraid that her friend had seen the exchange between her and Lewis.

"We're friends," Sadie tried to answer nonchalantly as she got back to work.

"Since when?" Megan asked, having seen the outburst between her friend and Nixon over a month before at the aid station back in Aldbourne. They hadn't seemed friendly then and she wanted to know when things had changed.

"For a while now," Sadie responded calmly. "We're both friends with Lieutenant Winters so we see a lot of each other." Megan's response was a judgemental gaze to which Sadie exclaimed, "Hey! Don't look at me like that!"

"Like what?" asked Megan with wide, innocent eyes.

"That look you just gave me!"

"I just don't think you should be spending so much time alone with a married man," Megan went back to work, not looking at the taller nurse.

"I would spend time with Dick too, but it just so happens he's fighting on the front lines at the moment," Sadie defended herself. She hoped that would quiet Megan down. The blonde was fan of Lieutenant Winters and approved of Sadie's friendship with him. In fact, she'd be subtly pushing Sadie to pursue a relationship with the man, but Sadie wouldn't have it. Despite him being an honest, successful and respectable man, Dick was like family to Sadie and she wasn't planning to change her view of him in the near future.

"I'm just looking out for you. That Lieutenant Nixon has a reputation and I don't want you getting hurt," Megan backed off.

"Thanks Meg, but I'll be fine," Sadie assured her friend with a smile.

Megan's comment got Sadie thinking. Nixon _did_ have a reputation and she was beginning to fall for his obvious charm. At the same time, she didn't want to stop seeing him. She enjoyed being around him and he was a distraction from the stress and grief that was so constant in her life recently. She supposed that's all she was for him and that was fine with her. As long as it was clear where they stood and no one found out (other than Dick, who had clearly already put the pieces together), they should have no problems.

A few hours later, Floyd Talbert was brought in with bayonet wounds. Turns out Private Smith had mistaken him for a Kraut and attacked him. Doc Roe and another man brought Talbert into a room and quickly departed to get back to the front line. Sadie was left alone to tend to the man's wounds that didn't seem too life threatening.

"Hey, Tab, you're gonna be alright okay? You didn't damage any major organs. I'm just gonna stitch you up and we're probably gonna have to send you back to England for a bit," Sadie pushed Talbert's hair off his forehead as she explained things.

"Mm-hmm," Talbert acknowledged her, clearly still in some pain even though morphine had probably been administered in the field.

"Alright, I'm just gonna take your shirt off to get a better look at your wounds," Sadie began unbuttoning Talbert's shirt.

"I always imagined it would be different when you undressed me for the first time," Talbert joked, his voice waivered in pain.

Sadie couldn't help but chuckle in response, "I'm gonna assume that's the morphine talking."

Sadie quickly stitched the good-looking man up and then, with a little bit of a struggle, was able to wrap a bandage around his chest. It wasn't long before she was done and she left Talbert to sleep for the night.

The next morning, after a bit of rest, Sadie received an update from Major Strayer. Being the only officer of the nurses, Sadie was in charge of the aid station, making it her responsibility to co-ordinate an evacuation if the Germans broke through the line. She was informed that the 501st and 506th were holding the line and there would definitely be casualties being sent to town.

It wasn't long before more wounded men started piling in to the aid station and once again Sadie felt like they didn't have enough hands. There was constant moaning of dying men and she felt like blood was everywhere. Sadie ran from room to room to make sure tasks were delegated appropriately and would help wherever she could.

About mid-morning it felt like gunfire was getting closer and closer, so close that it could be distinctly heard from inside the walls of the aid station. Sadie ran outside to see what the commotion was. Standing in the middle of the road outside the door of the aid station, she could just make-out what looked like retreating American soldiers in the distance. She was so stunned that it took the sound of a German tank just beyond city limits to put her into action.

"Megan!" Sadie called as she ran into the aid station.

"Yes?" Megan said, clearly distressed from the onslaught of new men to help.

"Get everyone ready to move!" Sadie started hustling around herself.

"Is everything okay? Did the Germans break through?" asked Megan, becoming panicked. A wave of panic spread throughout the aid station and men began to mumble and tried to move, but Sadie couldn't concern herself with them, she had to be prepared.

"Not yet, but if they do, we need can't be here," Sadie explained, breathing more heavily that usual. "Just have everything and everyone ready to move, just in case," Sadie stated more calmly, looking her best friend in the eye.

Megan simply nodded in response and both young women went about preparing the supplies while settling the restless men.

The German breakthrough never came and the American 2nd Armoured Division rolled through town in the afternoon. Sadie and the other nurses felt a huge wave of relief and the men drove by, on their way to help the paratroopers. It didn't take long for the Germans to withdraw and for Carentan to become solely Allied territory.

"Lieutenant Foster," Strayer greeted Sadie as he and Nixon came into town.

"Major Strayer," Sadie returned before she looked over his shoulder to glance at Nixon.

"It would seem like you've done an excellent job at handling the aid station and keeping it running," Strayer remained completely professional.

"Thank you, sir."

"Now that we've secured Carentan, you and Sergeants McNeil and Thompson will be moving to a field hospital north of Utah beach," ordered Strayer.

Sadie's heart dropped. She hadn't planned on leaving her friends from Easy Company. "But sir, I thought this aid station was going to become permanent."

"It will, but you and the other nurses have done your duty and served your country well. We're pulling you off the front line so you're not so close to the action. You'll stay at Utah beach and help there and then ship back to England with your company when the time comes," explained Strayer.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Sadie saluted the man and he left. Sadie simply nodded at Nixon and returned to the aid station to tell the two nurses their new orders.

The nurses shipped out that night and made it to Utah beach by morning. Utah beach was a fully functioning American field camp. Trucks full of supplies and men were constantly arriving and departing, there was a mess tent and hot showers available. The field hospital was full of men that had been severely wounded from across the peninsula. It was the nurses' job to get the worst ones stable enough for travel back to England. The healthier men were to be treated and then shipped back out into battle as soon as possible.

Sadie outranked many of the nurses at the aid station, and having seen real action, she was one of the most experienced. She quickly fell into a routine of paperwork and rounds at the hospital. There were more people here so there wasn't as much of a demand for her in the hospital as there had been at Carentan and Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont. Since the men were constantly moving in and out, Sadie wasn't able to get to know any of them like she had the men of Easy Company. She and Megan saw a bit of each other and she hadn't bothered to get to know any of the other nurses that were there. Overall, she'd become some sort of machine that went about her duties and didn't say much.

It wasn't until three weeks later that her and the other nurses that had jumped on D-Day got orders that their companies would be moving back to England. Sadie was ecstatic that she was finally going to see her friends again, only she never did. She was shipped out with some of the nurses and wounded soldiers before she ever found Easy.

A couple days had passed and Sadie still hadn't heard anything from Easy Company, except that they must have returned. She was doing her usual paper work in the aid station office. Colonel Sink had personally asked her to fill out additional reports regarding the nurses that had jumped.

Nixon walked into the room and Sadie looked up as he closed the door behind him. She hardly had time to stand before he was standing right next to her. She didn't even have a chance to greet him before he placed both his hand on either side of her face and kissed her deeply. Sadie forgot about everything and simply returned the kiss. He quickly sat her up on the desk she had just been working at as she pulled his shirt out of his pants. In a matter of seconds Sadie was lying back on the desk with her shirt wide open and pants undone. They both broke apart and looked each other in the eye, breathing heavily.

"Quick, get my boots off," Sadie panted, trying to sit up and reach towards her boots that were up near Nixon's waist.

"No time," was Nixon's only response.

He flipped her over, so she was forced to stand as she was bent over her desk. Nixon quickly pulled down her pants and underwear and then undid his own pants. Sadie had barely registered what was happening when he thrust into her. She braced herself on the desk as Nixon gripped her hips. Having been apart for so long, it was hard for them to control themselves and it wasn't long before they both climaxed. Sadie fell forward onto the desk, and Nixon collapsed backwards into the chair.

Once her breathing levelled out and the feeling returned to her legs, Sadie turned around and pulled up her pants.

"What? No snuggling?" she asked as she perched herself on the desk, her pants done up, but her shirt still wide open.

"Here," from his sitting position Lew took her hands and then placed them on the desk at her side. He then moved the chair so he was sitting in between her legs as he wrapped his arms around her back, underneath her open shirt. He buried his face between her breasts and began to draw light circles on her back. "Comfortable?" he asked into her chest, "'cause I am."

"I bet you are," Sadie chuckled. One hand played with his hair as the other rubbed his back absent-mindedly. Sadie kissed the top of Lew's head as they sat there in a comfortable silence, each grateful to be in the other's presence once again.

Sadie and the other nurses went about their duties much like they did before D-Day, only this time they didn't mind the tedious tasks in the least. Suddenly taking inventory and cleaning when there was nothing to do weren't such a hassle. At least they were in England, where it was safe and men weren't dying all around them.

Physical training and strategic lessons still went on like usual and Sadie participated whenever she could. No one minded training even remotely now that Dick was their CO. They were also grateful to be able to escape the action, unlike 4th Division, who was still on the front lines, or the boys in the Pacific. Sadie made a point to spend time with the men of Easy Company more often, and would occasionally go to the local pub to have a drink with them. She also continued to have secret meet-ups with Nixon whenever they could both fit it into their busy schedules.

It was only about a month after they'd all arrived back in England and Sadie had been informed that Easy would once again be making a jump. This time they were to jump into Chartres where they would cut off German supply trucks on their way to Normandy. Colonel Sink had been thoroughly impressed with Sadie's report on the events of D-Day and decided that she and the other nurses would be jumping with the 506th once again. They were to act as medics until a temporary field hospital for the wounded paratroopers could be established.

After learning about the new mission, Sadie wandered into the mess hall after dinner. She was in her Class A uniform, looking like the rest of the officers, except she wore a skirt. She felt it was appropriate to be around when the new jump was announced to the rest of the men.

"What's Smokey talking about?" Sadie whispered to Buck as she joined them.

"'The Night of the Bayonet', it's about when Smith got Talbert with his bayonet," Buck turned to her and explained.

"Oh," Sadie nodded, now understanding what Smokey was going on about.

Nixon then gathered all the officers to break the news to them about the upcoming jump and then passed the news on to Lipton, who then had the unfortunate task of informing the men.

Sadie was listening intently to what Lipton had to say, when she heard a man on her right say, "Congratulations, First Lieutenant." Sadie turned to see Nixon smirking at her. She'd been promoted earlier that day and had worn her new insignia, but it was difficult to distinguish between the silver and gold pins at times.

"Where'd you hear that? It just happened a few hours ago," Sadie was clearly surprised.

"Intelligence officer," was Nixon's simple explanation. "I would've thought you'd have caught on by now."

"Sink wants to see us," Dick interrupted. "Congratulations, Sadie," he added as he saw her new silver bar.

"Thanks, Dick," Sadie said proudly.

The group of officers all strolled out of the mess hall before they could hear the grumblings of the soldiers. Sadie joked right along with the men as they walked to Sink's office.

A couple of days later, after not much sleep, Sadie and Easy Company learned that the entire jump was cancelled. As it turned out, the infantry beat them to Chartres, so there was no need for them to jump. The men were free to continue regular training with weekend passes in Aldbourne and Sadie couldn't be more relieved.

**A/N: Sorry for the wait again! The next chapter is also gonna be fairly long and will be up ASAP! I'd love to know what you think! Thanks for reading!**


	6. 4: That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based **_**purely**_** on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**A/N: Thanks to EmmyMK for the review and to everyone who's been reading! I'm sorry I suck at getting these up quickly! I'll try to be better!**

**That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me**

It had been about a month since their last jump had been cancelled, and about two months since Easy Company had been in Normandy, in the midst of the action. New men had since joined the company, to replace the men that had been killed and wounded in Normandy.

Sadie had decided to join the men on this particular night at the local pub. She'd even changed out of her OD's for the occasion. She sat in a fairly simple grey dress, sipping a beer that one of men in her company had bought, and watched Buck and Babe Heffron compete in a round of darts. She thought it was strange that Buck was shooting left-handed, as she didn't think he was left-handed, but maybe it was something she'd just never noticed before.

"Sorry George," Buck apologized to Luz after not hitting a crucial shot. Sadie didn't really understand the game, but as far as she could tell the objective was to hit the bull's-eye in the middle of the target.

"It's alright," Luz replied. Sadie was becoming a little suspicious of the two, but let it go.

Babe stepped up and easily won the game over Buck. After a bit of a congratulatory drink for Babe from Wild Bill, the two groups of men decided to make a wager on the next round of darts. Sadie was enjoying watching the game. She was beginning to pick up the rules a bit and the strategy behind. She had always been a sports fan and even played recreationally back home, so learning a new activity was always intriguing.

"Alright, here we go. One shot. Here we go, Luz" Buck lined up. Apparently the men had decided to bet two packs for whoever could get closest to the bull's-eye in one shot.

"Lieutenant, you gonna shoot lefty all night?" Luz inquired. Sadie knew it! It sounded suspicious and Luz was in on it, so something _had_ to be going on.

"George. What would I do without George Luz?" Buck smirked. Knowing they'd got away with conning Babe and Toye, he switched to his right hand.

"Boop," Luz said as Buck hit the bull's-eye spot-on.

Sadie laughed at the whole exchange as she sipped her beer and the winning team collected their packs of cigarettes.

"Alright Lieutenant, let's see what you've got," Luz walked over to Sadie and tried to coax her into joining them.

"Oh no, I can't throw darts," Sadie protested.

"Just get over here," said Buck, offering over the darts.

Sadie stood as she finished off the rest of her drink. Feeling a little drunk now that she was standing, she made her way over to the men. Taking the darts from Buck, she turned around to line up with the dart board. With the dart in her left hand, she closed one eye and stuck out her tongue in concentration.

"Now Sadie, you don't have to show off and use your left-hand. Not everyone is a pro like Buck," George teased her like she was stupid.

"Shut up, George, I'm left-handed," she responded, not taking her eye off the dart board as she waivered a bit. She then threw the dart as best she knew how, hoping luck would be on her side and she wouldn't completely embarrass herself. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, she completely missed the dart board and managed to hit the wall about three feet from the floor.

Her friends around her just laughed and Luz commented in his usual sarcastic nature, "Good one, Sadie."

Moving the other dart to her left hand she turned her head to look at the man standing in front of her. "Fuck off, Luz."

"Okay, you hit the board this time and I'll buy you a drink."

Sadie went to realign herself for a second attempt when she felt a body right behind her. Buck placed his right hand on her right hip as he pressed his body up against her back.

"Okay, now, just relax," he whispered in her left ear. Sadie breathed a little deeper and her heart beat a little faster as the men around them had gone uncomfortably silent at the intimate contact between two of their officers. Buck's fingertips brushed along her arm as he delicately adjusted her elbow. He then placed his left hand on her left hip and continued, "Now release as it's pointed at the target, not after."

Sadie nodded dumbly, intoxicated by both the alcohol and the close proximity to a man she found attractive. She proceeded to throw the dart as Buck had instructed. It didn't hit the bull's-eye, but it did hit the ring around it. Buck released his grasp on her waist as she threw her hands in the air in victory. The men cheered around her as she turned to Buck, her eyes wide in shock and a huge smile on her face.

"Well done, Lieutenant," Buck congratulated her calmly.

"Thanks, Buck," Sadie replied.

"Now, Luz," Buck looked over Sadie's shoulder, "I think you owe the lady a beer."

True to his word, Luz bought Sadie a beer and she continued to talk and joke around with Buck and Luz. She could kind of overhear Cobb making comments to the new replacements. She had never been his biggest fan and had thought he was a bit of an asshole. He was always making snide remarks about her not being capable enough to go into combat with Easy, but most of the other men were quick to have her back. She usually just brushed it off, knowing that if he was injured in the field she could let him bleed a few extra seconds or prod at his wound a little harder than necessary.

Right then, the bar was interrupted for Lipton to announce that they would all be shipping out again.

Luz just looked at Sadie and asked, "Did you know about this?"

Sadie looked at him sadly and shrugged. She'd been told a few hours earlier. Operation Market-Garden had been planned quickly and needed to be put in action even more quickly if there was any hope of it working. She'd been informed so that she and the other nurses could be ready when the time came to jump.

The next day, Sadie stood at the front of the tent with the rest of the Easy Company officers as Dick and Lew explained the objective of Operation Market-Garden. The look on every man's face was the same and it broke her heart. They all look pained and worried, and not one of them could sit still. They were remembering Operation Overlord and they were praying it wouldn't be the same. She hadn't seen all the horrific things they'd seen, but she'd seen some of the results and she hoped this time it wouldn't be as tragic. A wave of relief and hope rushed across the tent when Nixon mentioned that the potential outcome of this operation could be Berlin by Christmas. They could hang in there a couple more months if it meant ending the war before the new year.

Two days later they were getting ready to jump. The men were preparing out on the runway and Sadie was strapping on her gear while she talked to Dick in his tent.

"Are we sure this is gonna work?" Sadie asking what everyone had been wondering.

"I'm sure Eisenhower's thought it through. He wouldn't agree with Montgomery if he didn't honestly believe it would work," Dick responded distractedly as he got ready himself.

"I'm saying, there are a lot of things that need to go right for this to work," Sadie stated, "What if there's more German opposition that we expected? Or what if the British are slow and we can't hold the town? Then the Allied paratroopers are stuck in Arnhem. How are we supposed to save them? We won't even be able to get supplies through. We're redirecting all our resources into this one plan, so we're completely screwed if it blows up in our faces."

"Sadie," Dick stopped what he was doing and looked at her, "this is out of our control. We need to follow orders as planned."

"I'm not questioning Ike," clarified Sadie, "but I have my doubts."

"There are always doubts, but risks need to be taken if we want to win this war."

"I know, I just-"

"You need to calm down and think positive. You can't jump if you're like this," Dick stepped closer to her in an effort to calm his friend. "Have some faith."

"Ready to go, you two?" Nixon popped his head in the tent, clearly strapped in and prepared for the jump.

"Ah, Nix," Dick said, turning to his friend, "Can you talk some sense into her? She's questioning your intelligence information."

"Hey! I take offense to that," Nixon said to Sadie in a joking manner.

"I wasn't questioning your intelligence information," Sadie explained as she walked past Nixon, out of the tent, "I was questioning your judgement."

"Yeah, well, sometimes I question that too," he commented, more to Winters and himself than to her.

Dick simply shook his head and smiled as he followed Sadie out of the tent.

After many announced and cancelled missions, the men of 101st and the special group of nurses were finally on their way to their second jump. Sadie was more nervous this time around, probably because she knew what they could be expecting once they landed. It was a daytime jump, which could be good or bad. A positive was that she would be able to see where she was going, but it also meant the Germans would be able to see the same thing.

To keep herself from panicking she went over the mission details in her head. She would be meeting up with the other nurses and establishing small aid stations as they traveled along and towns were claimed. Until then, she would be hanging back with the commissioned officers, while her company fought. This allowed her to be somewhat of a field medic. The wounded men would be pulled off the line and brought back to her as they moved along.

It felt like no time had passed and they were once again jumping out of a plane into German occupied territory. Sadie landed and quickly scrambled to get rid of her parachute. She was incredibly jumpy and anticipating German fire at any moment, only it never came. There was little German opposition, just as Nixon had said, and they moved into Eindhoven with relative ease.

Sadie tried her best to stick to Winters' side as they made their way through Eindhoven, but it was difficult given that the streets were packed with people waving orange flags and ribbons. From every direction Sadie was being kissed and grabbed by the Dutch women. She tried to explain that she wasn't a man, but they didn't seem to understand since she dressed like all the men and the braid down her back was her only distinctly feminine feature at a glance. The men around her were all enjoying the attention, a little _too_ much if you asked her.

Sadie was standing at the edge of the town's centre square with Winters, trying to see over the crowd. She yelped as yet another person grabbed her ass. She whipped around to find that the culprit was Lewis Nixon. "I'm gonna let that slide because you're the first _man_ to do that all day," she narrowed her eyes at him, only half joking.

Nixon only winked and chuckled in response and turned to his friend, "Dick, clock's ticking."

"Yeah," was Winters' distracted response, so Nixon turned back to the tall woman next to him.

"You got a little something…" Nixon tried to begin, referring to the lipstick smudges that covered her face. Sadie huffed in frustration and began to rub at her face, unsuccessfully trying to remove the bright red smears covering her tanned face. "Here, let me," Nixon tried to nudge Sadie's hands away from her face.

"Here," Dick pointedly interjecting on the moment the two officers were having and handed Sadie a handkerchief.

"Thanks. Ugh, they think I'm a man!" Sadie exclaimed out of frustration as she accepted his offering.

Just then, a rush of women came past the group of three. Winters calmly accepted a kiss on the lips from a pretty civilian and continued turning his collar up. Nixon and Sadie were a little more frantic in trying to avoid the swarm of women. Nixon politely thanked them and moved on, but Sadie tried to dodge them and looked terrified as she attempted to escape.

Harry Welsh finally found the group and started laughing as soon as he saw the nurse's face. "I think you missed when you tried to put lipstick on this morning, Sadie."

"Shut up, Harry," Sadie glared at him, not in the mood to be teased.

"What's up, Welshy?" asked Buck, pulling the lieutenant's attention away from Sadie's misfortune.

"Snipers," replied Welsh. As the men adjusted their uniforms and equipment, Sadie and Nixon continued to gaze at each other, having a little conversation of their own without actually speaking.

"We gotta get to these bridges," Winters ordered, and the officers moved out to try to find their men.

They stumbled on a crowd that had gathered around a group of wailing and crying women. The onlookers were chanting something in Dutch that the nurse didn't understand. The women in the middle kneeled and their hair was cut off and their clothes torn and ripped from their bodies. They continued to cry helplessly as their dignity was stripped from them. The American soldiers around her instantly went silent and tears sprang to Sadie's eyes.

"Can't we do something?" Sadie asked quietly, a couple of tears threatening to fall from her green eyes.

"It's not our place," stated Dick, but Sadie could hear in his voice that he wished they could help in some way.

"What did they do?" inquired Welsh, not taking his eyes off the scene before him.

"They slept with the Germans," an unknown accented voice said from behind the group. It seemed that Nixon had returned with a Dutch ally. Sadie tried to wipe the tears from her face as she turned around the meet the new man. Nixon saw this and caught her eye to give her a concerned glance. "They are lucky," the Dutch man continued, "the men who collaborated are being shot."

Nixon and Winters continued to discuss important matters with the Dutch man, Mr. van Kooijk, as they weaved in and out of the crowd, while Sadie, Buck and Welsh trailed behind.

"It'll be okay, Sadie," Buck rubbed the tall woman's upper back above her pack, as a way to console her.

"Thanks, Buck," Sadie gave him a small smile, glad to have her friends with her.

Buck and Welsh left after Winters ordered them to settle their platoons in for the night, placing a perimeter around the city as a precaution. Dick and van Kooijk wandered off to discuss their plans further. This left Sadie and Nixon facing each other in the crowded streets of Eindhoven.

"Shouldn't you be going with them?" Sadie gestured towards the retreating figures of Dick and van Kooijk.

"Nah, Dick can handle himself," Nixon waved the idea off. He stepped closer and turned the collar of her jacket up, so that her silver bar couldn't be seen by any potential German snipers in the area. "Besides, I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'll be fine," Sadie tried to unsuccessfully act like the incident hadn't bothered her. "I was just caught off guard is all," she continued with her nonchalant façade.

Sadie pulled out her canteen, poured a bit of water on the forgotten handkerchief Dick had given her and resumed trying to scrub her face clean.

"Scrub any harder and you're gonna wash your freckles off," Nixon teased, trying to brighten her spirits and lighten the mood. She didn't notice his dark eyes dancing with amusement.

"With any luck," Sadie sighed without even looking at him, hating her freckles. The light splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks had become more visible over the summer once she got a bit of a tan and she despised it. Where she was from, freckles weren't an attractive feature to have, but she was never quite able to cover them up.

"I like your freckles," Nixon stated honestly.

"You do?" Sadie stopped what she was doing to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, they suit you," he smiled warmly at her. Sadie was slightly taken aback as her heart fluttered at his words. No one, besides her mother, had said anything quite so nice about them. It was completely unplanned and honest. Nixon just chuckled at her blank expression and took the handkerchief from her, wiping the last hint of red lipstick from her cheek.

"Thanks," Sadie replied meekly at both his comment and his assistance as she blushed.

"Come on, let's go find a place to stay for the night," Nixon took Sadie's hand and led her through the crowd, which had gotten more unruly since the British tanks had begun to roll through the city.

"I'm not staying with you, Lew," Sadie stated, trying to dodge civilians as she held Nixon's hand tightly so as not to lose him in the crowd.

"I know, I know, separate beds, separate rooms," Nixon replied with a sigh, now used to Sadie's routine. She was constantly paranoid someone would draw conclusions if they were seen alone together.

Whenever they were able to squeeze in a moment to themselves back in England, she was always the first one dressed and practically sprinting out the door before he could even get his pants on. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered, since so many of his comments and actions earned him a livid glare and an angry whisper to keep his hands to himself. But then Sadie would smile at him and laugh at his sarcastic remarks. Unlike many of the women he'd come across, she was smart enough to keep up in conversations and contribute her own witty remarks. Nixon genuinely enjoyed spending time with her, both alone and in a group of people, and add to that, she was a good lay.

"Separate _houses_," Sadie clarified. Nixon just rolled his eyes, however Sadie couldn't see it because he was still facing forward and she was slightly behind him.

"Fine, but you're staying with one of the Easy Company officers. I'm not letting you sleep in some foreign house with some strange family you don't know. You could be raped for Chrissake," Nixon raised his voice slightly as he began to rant.

"Alright, okay," Sadie tried to calm him down by obliging to his request.

"And not with Compton. He's a good man, but I don't like the way he looks at you and touches you," Nixon continued.

"He's a friend, Lew. He's just looking out for me," Sadie tried to get him to see rationally.

"Yeah, well, he's looking out for you a little too closely," Nixon replied snidely, the nice moment they'd shared not long ago completely forgotten.

"I seem to remember you being married, and it's not to _me_! You don't control what I do, Lew," Sadie replied icily and stormed off to find Dick. She'd see if she could stay in the same billet with him for the night and cool off. How dare Lew say those things to her! Sure she found Buck good-looking, but that was it and she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her. She wasn't some whore that was going to sleep with half the company and she didn't appreciate being treated as such.

Just as the sun was setting, Easy's CO found a house for him and the young nurse to stay in for the night. Because of the language barrier, it took a bit of explaining that he and Sadie were not married and would therefore need two separate rooms for the night. They managed to move the Dutch family to their neighbours' house and Sadie and Dick were given free reign. Dick took the master bedroom with the adjoining study, so that he could do his paperwork and conduct meetings if needed, while Sadie took the eldest daughter's room. It was a fairly decent size and it suited her perfectly for a one night stay. She felt a little guilty for having such a nice place to sleep while many of her friends slept outside of town in their foxholes, but she wasn't about to give it up. Besides, it was only one night.

While distracting Dick from his paperwork in the study, purely out of her own boredom, Sadie had found a book in French. She bid him goodnight and returned to her room, fully intending to attempt to read part of the novel and then go directly to sleep.

She was sitting at the desk, having an easier time reading than she anticipated. It had been quite a while since she'd read anything in French, but she'd always found it much easier to read than to speak the language. Suddenly there was a light tap at the door.

"Come in," Sadie said distractedly, fully engrossed in the book and guessing it was Dick at the door.

"Hey," a voice said from the doorway. Sadie looked up to find a very apologetic and slightly drunk-looking Lewis Nixon standing there. She just shot him an unimpressed look and returned to reading her book. "Listen, I feel like shit for what I said to you."

"You should," Sadie didn't take her eyes of the novel, although she wasn't actually reading anymore.

"Come on, don't be like that," Nixon took a step into her room. "I came to say I'm sorry."

"Okay."

"Look at me…please?" Nixon practically begged her.

She just sighed and looked at the man, doing her best to remain looking pissed off. "What?" she snapped.

"Go for a walk with me?" he asked. The look in his eyes was enough to make her feel terrible for being so short with him. She knew he wasn't really as sorry as he was pretending to be, but she also knew that she wasn't actually as pissed as she was acting. They were both just being stubborn, and Nixon was trying to do the right thing and fix it.

"Fine, let me just grab my jacket," Sadie pushed her chair back from the desk and pulled her jacket off the bedpost it was hanging from.

Once outside, they strolled the streets of Eindhoven. There was lots of drinking and celebrating still occurring, but Sadie couldn't get past the awkward silence that had fallen between her and Nixon.

"So… I was an ass-,"

"And I was a bitch," Sadie finished his sentence. "Can we just leave it at that? We're both sorry and we don't really need to drag this out."

"Sure thing," Nixon nodded. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," he smirked over at her, relieved as the awkward tension lifted. Sadie just giggled and continued to walk in silence.

"I'm surprised you're not out drinking with all the civilians," the nurse changed the subject, referring to the noisy pub they were walking past.

"What makes you think I haven't been drinking?" Nixon joked.

"Touché." Silence fell upon them once again, only this time it was much more comfortable as they observed the goings-on that were happening all around them.

"So I have some Vat 69 back at my billet if you wanted."

"Wow!"

"What?"

"Subtle," Sadie said and Nixon just gave her a confused look in return. "You have a way of making everything sound so inappropriate."

"It's part of my charm," Nixon winked at her. Sadie simply intertwined her fingers with his and directed their walk towards his billet at a leisurely pace.

They quietly snuck into the house Nixon was occupying because the couple that lived there was currently sleeping upstairs. Sadie turned on the light in his room as Nixon grabbed a couple glasses and filled them with his favourite drink.

"You really think the war could be over by Christmas?" Sadie asked hopefully as she sipped her drink. She sat in a chair in the corner of the room and Nixon took a seat at the desk.

"If everything goes as planned, then yeah," Nixon replied.

"That would be nice," replied Sadie thoughtfully, swirling the whiskey around in her glass, "I miss being home, with all that snow in the winter."

The two continued to reminisce about growing up and life back at home for the better part of an hour. They both finished their drinks relatively quickly; however, Nixon was the only one to keep drinking.

Sadie glanced down at her watch, "Oh shit!" she exclaimed and jump up. "It's late. I gotta get back."

"Stay," Nixon suggested.

"I can't. We're moving out early. Dick's probably wondering where I am…" Sadie crossed the small room in a couple steps. She leaned over Nixon to place the empty glass on his desk then bent down to give him a peck on the lips.

"Stay," he persisted and pulled her back into a kiss. He pulled on the back of her left thigh to nudge her so that she was standing in between his legs.

"Hmmm," Sadie smiled into his lips as he ran his hand up her thigh and over her backside and then back down. "I can't," she stood up and gazed down at him. She tucked an unruly curl behind her ear and took a couple steps back to leave.

Nixon quickly stood, oddly stable for the amount of alcohol he'd consumed, and pulled her back to him. "Just stay," he said once again as he ran his hands up and down Sadie's back and arms.

Sadie had to admit, it was tempting. She could sneak out in the middle of the night and he wouldn't have any idea since he'd be sleeping so deeply thanks to the Vat 69. She leaned into his body and felt that he was semi-hard against her hip. He smirked down at her slightly in his most seductive manner. "Nice try, but I really can't. We're not in England anymore," she responded with her own teasing smirk.

Nixon just huffed in frustration and walked over to his bed and flopped down on his back. "If the German's don't kill me, you will," he mumbled over-dramatically, rubbing his hands over his face.

"G'night, Lew," Sadie called over her shoulder as she laughed and left the house to return to her own billet.

"'Night!" Nixon hollered half-consciously.

**A/N: I'm hoping this will satisfy everyone for a little bit! I have a week of hell coming up and then I plan to take a few days off to just re-watch the series and then write, write, write! Again, thanks for reading! **


	7. 4: Long Trip Alone

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers, but I do love the HBO miniseries. Also, this is based _purely_ on the miniseries, and not the lives of the actual men of Easy Company. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the men that fought so that we could live freely today.**

**Chapter 7: Long Trip Alone**

Sadie briskly walked back to the house her and Dick were sharing for the night. As a woman in a foreign country, she didn't care to be stopped by any of the locals as she wandered the streets alone.

On her way to her own room she popped her head into Dick's study and said, "'Night, Dick."

"Good night," he responded, hardly looking up from the papers in front of him. Sadie continued to lurk in the doorway until he looked up, "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, it's about Lew," she began, stepping into the room more.

"That's not really any of my business," Winters replied, feeling a little uncomfortable. As a favour to both Sadie and Nixon, he'd chosen to ignore the relationship the two had developed.

"Just listen. I owe you some sort of explanation," Sadie refused to let him brush it off. It wasn't something she necessarily wanted to discuss with her friend and commanding officer, but it needed to be said. "You're my friend and I don't want you thinking I'm some terrible person."

"I don't think that," Dick replied genuinely.

"I just feel like you've gotten the wrong impression about me," Sadie elaborated further. "I'm not the kind of girl that develops relations with married men, or any men for that matter. I don't know how this happened."

"Just be careful, Sadie," concern evident in Dick's voice.

"I just wanted you know that I appreciate you not saying anything to Colonel Sink," Sadie said gratefully. "As far as anyone needs to know, Lew and I are nothing but fellow officers and friends."

"It might be too late for that. Half the company already knows you're Nixon's girl," Dick informed the young nurse.

"What?" Sadie asked, eyes wide in shock and alarm.

"Yeah, and I understand they're pretty jealous of him. I think a few of the men were hoping to catch your eye first," Easy's CO smirked at her, finding amusement in her predicament.

"Oh," Sadie's mind was running a mile a minute trying to pinpoint the exact moment that the men could have noticed what was going on between her and Nixon. She'd have to give Lew a good talking to about personal space.

"It's fine, Sadie, really. Just don't let it keep you from doing your job. Lives are at risk here," Winters directed.

"Don't worry, Dick, it's nothing serious," Sadie pointed out, making it clear that her and Nixon weren't in any sort of committed, romantic relationship. "And thanks," she said again as she bid him goodnight. Feeling much better after speaking with Dick, Sadie immediately went to bed and had a restful sleep knowing that she probably wouldn't be fortunate enough to sleep in a bed again any time soon.

The next morning, Easy Company, along with the rest of 101st, continued along the road to Arnhem. They were lucky enough to travel with the British Guards Armoured Division so that many of the men were able to conserve energy by riding along on the Cromwell tanks.

Sadie rode at the back of Easy Company with Winters, Welsh and couple of the other officers. She was enjoying the sunshine as the men around her joked and laughed. It had been a peaceful morning thus far, and Sadie was beginning to think Operation Market-Garden was an excellent strategic idea on Montgomery's part. Maybe Berlin _was_ possible by Christmas.

They were riding by a woman who had clearly been marked by the Dutch as conspirator. Her head was shaved and her clothes torn. She held her baby tightly and sadly gazed at the men as they drove by. Sadie couldn't help but pity the woman and grabbed for her blanket out of her pack.

"Keep it," Welsh said, as he placed his hand on Sadie's arm before she could jump off the moving tank to give the woman her blanket.

"She's got a baby, Harry," Sadie pointed out sadly.

"You might need it," Harry fired back, although he clearly pitied the woman as well.

"I'll find another one," and with that Sadie hopped off the British tank.

"Alright, but it's not gonna be mine!" Harry hollered after her. Sadie just chuckled, knowing full well that if she needed a blanket, Harry would be one of the first to offer his to her.

Sadie walked over to the woman and passed her the wool blanket and saw that one of the men had already given her a K ration. The woman looked up at her gratefully, wordlessly thanking her. The young nurse gave her a reassuring smile in return, and jogged back to the tank that her friends were on.

It wasn't much further down the road when a shot rang out and the men up front started yelling. It was then that Sadie saw a German tank whiz by.

"Come on, Sadie, get down!" Winters had to practically drag the nurse off the tank and into the ditch.

Sadie heard more shots being further down the road and she crouched in the ditch on the side of the road. Her adrenaline was pumping and she could only hear her heart beat as Dick ordered Buck, Welsh and the other officers up front to their platoons.

"What's going on?" Nixon was suddenly at their sides, questioning Dick. He'd just made his way up from Battalion HQ, which had been traveling behind them.

"Seems we've come across that German opposition you were talking about," Dick said lightly.

There was a cry for a medic and Sadie instinctually stood up slightly, intending to dash off to help.

"What are you doing?" Nixon asked with an accusing tone, tugging on her arm to force her to crouch back down at his side.

"Going to help. They need a medic," Sadie stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh no, I don't think so," Nixon still held onto her arm.

"It's my job," Sadie started to argue.

"Dick, back me up here," Nixon looked to his friend for help.

Dick looked at Sadie and said, "Nix is right, Sink's orders were for you to stay at the back of the Company."

"They need my help!" Sadie exclaimed, becoming outraged. Someone was dying and they were going to keep her back here just because she was a woman and Sink told them too?

"There are other medics. You can help the men that are brought back here, but there's no reason for you to be running along the front lines," Dick said with a tone of finality.

"Fine," Sadie sighed and yanked her arm out of Lew's grasp.

Once the fighting had moved a little further into the town, Winters and Nixon moved to stand behind one of the tanks. Using binoculars, they looked at the progress they were making and decided on a strategy.

In the meantime, Sadie helped Doc Roe work on Lieutenant Brewer and the medic that had been the first two men hit. She'd managed to stop the bleeding of the lieutenant's carotid artery, but he'd lost a lot of blood. The medic had also lost quite a bit of blood, having been hit in the leg. Although both men wouldn't be fighting any time soon, it seemed that both would most likely make it once they got back to England to recover.

The cries of "medic!" came more often and Doc Roe was forced to leave Sadie on her own. She was fine to finish off bandaging the medic's leg, now that Lieutenant Brewer was resting safely. Every time a grenade or something else exploded Sadie couldn't help but wince, feeling like they were coming right for her.

It wasn't long before many of the men of Easy Company were running back towards her. It seemed that they were retreating from the city, much to Dick's dislike. Sadie stood and paced back and forth anxiously, checking the men that ran by her to make sure that no one was in need of immediate medical attention. She made a mental note of a couple of the paratroopers that would need bandages and stitches once things had calmed down a bit.

The calls for a medic became more persistent still as the men continued to retreat back to safety. Private Hashey ran by saying that Buck had been hit and Malarkey had asked for a medic. Sadie immediately took off.

"Sadie!" Nixon yelled after her, looking to Winters once again to aid him.

"They need me," she looked at Winters with pleading eyes.

"Go," he sighed and Sadie sprinted towards the town. Nixon just looked at him in disbelief and sighed, knowing that no one could stop Sadie Foster once she set her mind to something, especially when her friends needed her.

"Sadie!" Malarkey greeted her as she stumbled upon him waiting for a medic with Buck and Skip Muck. He was clearly surprised to see the nurse on the front lines.

"Hey there, Malark," she returned his greeting, out of breath.

"Sadie? What are you doing here?" Buck was in a bit of daze from being wounded.

"Heard ya got hit in the ass and I had to see it for myself," Sadie smiled down at the lieutenant, pulling bandages out of her side bag.

"Malarkey, get her out of here," Buck ordered the red-haired man.

"What?" Malarkey questioned.

"Just go. Leave me here for the Germans," Buck tried to bat her hands away from him as Sadie helped him.

"It's gone right through. Side to side, both cheeks," Sadie reported, swatting back at Buck's hands. She applied pressure to the wound as the men continued to argue.

"What? Are you nuts? We'll carry you," Malarkey told Buck.

"Are you kidding me? I weigh more than both you guys combined," Buck referred to Malarkey and Skip.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm here," Sadie smirked at Buck, still keeping pressure on his wound.

"Come on," Malarkey nudged Muck and both men took off, back into the town.

Sadie had no idea what they had planned, but she continued to work on Buck's behind. She asked him some questions to make sure he stayed conscious and the men were back before she knew. They brought an unhinged door and Guarnere with them. She helped the men shift their lieutenant onto the wooden door and they moved as quickly as they could back towards where the men were jumping into trucks to retreat. Sadie helped the other men to load Buck up onto the truck and then proceeded to climb up and kneel beside him, keeping pressure on his wounds.

Winters walked by yelling at all the men to get moving so that they could get out of there. Sadie and the CO simply looked at each other and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Nix!" Sadie heard Winters yell out and whipped her head around, seeing the intelligence officer laying on the ground. Sadie turned back to Buck, panic written all over her face.

"Go," Malarkey placed his hand over hers, understanding her concern. Sadie simply nodded at him in thanks and jumped off the back of the truck.

"Are you alright?" Sadie asked Nixon as she fell to her knees beside him after Winters had helped him up.

"Yeah, yeah," Nixon replied distractedly as he pulled her down and out of range of the German bullets that had nearly killed him.

"Captain! We've got four dead, eleven injured," First Sergeant Lipton reported to Winters, kneeling beside Sadie.

"Let me see," Sadie ignored Lipton and Winters' conversation. She cradled Nixon's head in her hands with a worried expression on her face and pushed his dark hair off his forehead. "Didn't even break the skin, lucky bastard."

"Come on, let's go," Nixon used one hand to put his peppered helmet back on, while he placed his other hand on Sadie's waist to nudge her back towards the trucks.

The two got up and ran with Nixon's hand still protectively on Sadie's lower back. Winters and Lipton soon followed and the group jumped on the back of a truck and rode it to safety, all a bit shaken from the opposition they'd just encountered. The Germans were not simply old men and inexperienced young boys like they'd expected. It was going to be more difficult to get to Arnhem than anticipated.

That evening, Sadie walked around to all the men and checked on them as they dug in for the night. She attended to those that needed medical aid and handed out food to some of the rest. She played her part of the only woman in the company, trying to make the men smile to raise their spirits. They'd all had a long, rough day; some had even lost friends like Van Klinken. She kept conversation light and let them know she was happy they were all together. Somewhere along the way she heard that Bull was missing and prayed to God that he was alright. She didn't think the men could bare it if another Toccoa man was lost and she knew she'd be upset as well.

She had one last thing to do before she dug in for the night and that was to check on Nixon. She hadn't seen much of him since they left Nuenen and she wanted to make sure his head was okay.

She found the intelligence officer with Winters and it seemed that they were going to dig in for the night as well.

"Mind if I borrow him for a couple minutes, Dick? Just wanna make sure his head's okay," Sadie requested.

"Be my guest," Winters replied, ever the gentleman.

"Don't I get a say in this?" asked Nixon jokingly.

"No," teased Sadie right back as she grabbed his hand and led him off.

The two found a secluded area and Sadie sat him down on the back bumper of a jeep so she could examine him better. The nurse pushed back his hair to get a better look at the wound, even though it was dark out.

"Oh, you actually wanted to check my head," Nixon chuckled, looking up at her.

"Yes, so don't get any ideas," Sadie scorned him. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when you – Ow! – poke at it like that," Nixon shied away from her prodding hands.

"Sorry," she apologized genuinely. "Do you want me to bandage it up?"

"Nah, I'll be fine."

"What if I kiss it better?" Sadie asked, a suggestive glint in her eye as she smirked down at the attractive man sitting before her.

"Well, I don't know, you could try…" Nixon flirted back.

Sadie slowly leaned in and gave him a sensual kiss on the forehead. Unable to keep his hands off her any longer, Nixon grabbed Sadie around the waist and pulled her into his lap. She simply giggled in response before he captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Sadie wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair, being sure to stay clear of the burn on his forehead. Nixon managed to hold the young woman tightly as he ran his hands up and down her body. This kiss ended much too soon for the both of them, but neither wanted a soldier to accidentally stumble upon them.

"Better?" Sadie grinned at him, not bothering to move from her place on his lap.

"Much better," he returned her smile and pulled her in closer.

"I suppose we should dig in for the night," Sadie stated after a couple moments, staring off into the darkness.

"Yep," Nixon acknowledged, not raising his head from its spot on her shoulder.

Neither officer made any move to get up for a few minutes. They were simply content to sit there, wrapped in the other's arms. It had been a trying day for both of them and neither wanted to think about what their next move would be as a battalion. Eventually the two made their way back to the general group of men and were able to catch a few hours of restless sleep.

The next morning, Sadie was happy to hear that Bull had managed to find his way back to Easy Company. He'd run into his men on the way back and they were all able to hitch a ride back in the jeep.

"Hey Bull, glad to see you made it back," Sadie smiled at the giant man once his platoon had said their hellos and dispersed a bit.

"Thank you ma'am, glad to be back," Bull drawled in response.

"How's about I take a look at that shoulder?" Sadie suggested.

"If it's not too much trouble," responded Bull, never wanting to inconvenience anyone.

"It's never too much trouble for you," Sadie patted him on his good arm and led him over where she could get a better look at him. Upon examination Sadie could tell that he'd been hit by some shrapnel, but he'd done a good job to get it out, making her job easier. In no time at all he was bandaged up and ready to ship out with the rest of Easy Company. Sadie hopped into a truck with some of the men and rode with them as they retreated to Uden. She knew that Dick wouldn't be happy about the retreat, but it was better than losing more men.

They had been in Holland a total of ten days before the men received any mail. Once they'd gotten their letters and opened them, spirits were raised. It seemed that any small reminder of the world away from war could easily brighten soldiers' moods. It made things a lot easier on the men when rumours began to circulate that they would be moving out soon, this time into an isolated area of Holland.

"Have you seen Lew?" Sadie interrupted Buck and Welsh's conversation briefly, looking for the intelligence officer.

"Just saw him over there," Buck answered and pointed in a general direction towards a building. Sadie didn't know if that was CP or just a miscellaneous building, they all looked the damn same to her! Same with the men. There were so many of them wandering about, all wearing the same thing, that it made it difficult to distinguish one person from the next.

"Thanks," Sadie said distractedly as she clapped him on the shoulder, and ran off in the direction Buck had gestured to.

"Lew. Lew!" Sadie called to him, when she found him talking to an officer she didn't know.

"Yeah?" he asked, confused as to why she sounded so urgent.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked. "Privately," she gestured towards a more isolated area.

"Sure thing. Talk to you later, Major," Nixon excused himself and followed her as she practically jogged away from him. She led him into an empty barn and turned around, concern written all over her face. "What's going on, Sadie? You're scaring me."

"I'm leaving."

"We're all leaving. Orders are to ship out tomorrow," Nixon physically relaxed, thinking the tall brunette was making a big deal out of nothing.

"No, I'm really leaving. I've been reassigned," tears began to fill Sadie's eyes. "I'm going back to England."

"What? Why?"

"Market-Garden is over. There's no need for nurses to be here. We're all headed back to Aldbourne to train new nurses for the field," Sadie explained.

"What about setting up an aid station wherever we're stationed next?" Nixon tried to rationalize her staying.

"Sink decided it's too dangerous. Besides there's no need, field medics can handle it," she explained further.

"When do you leave?" he asked, realizing that his moments with her were numbered.

"The nurses are shipping out in fifteen minutes," Sadie let out a small sob and tears began to run down her face. "Oh God, I promised myself I wouldn't do this," she tried to wipe her tears and cover her face in embarrassment. She had made herself a promise some time ago that she wouldn't get emotional if and when she had to say goodbye to Nixon and the rest of Easy Company, but it seemed that she wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

"Shh, come here," Nixon tried to calm the crying woman in front of him. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair as she sniffled into the side of his neck and clung to his jacket. He tried to take it all in and memorize everything about the young woman in his arms, from her scent to the feel of her silky hair and the way she fit against his body. Neither knew if they would ever see each other again and Nixon wanted to be able to recall everything about her on the cold nights he undoubtedly had ahead of himself.

"I guess this is it," Sadie stepped back from him, much calmer then she'd been a couple of minutes before.

"Yeah," Nixon replied dumbly, this new information was still sinking in. "Does Dick know?"

"Yeah, I spoke to him right before I found you. And I talked to a couple of the guys so that they can spread the word around and no one thinks I got lost or left behind somewhere," Sadie tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"We wouldn't want that," Nixon chuckled. "They're gonna miss you, you know," he continued to avoid how he really felt about her departure.

"Yeah," Sadie replied thoughtfully, knowing she would miss them just as much, if not more.

"_I'm_ gonna miss you," Nixon suddenly got serious. Sadie's eyes darted to meet his intense gaze.

"I'll miss you too," the curly haired brunette whispered and her green eyes threatened to tear up again.

Nixon pulled her in for another hug and kissed her on the forehead as they both pulled away from each other.

"Can I write to you?" the Intelligence Officer asked.

"I'd like that," answered Sadie, unsure of what this meant for their relationship. She'd thought since she was leaving that they would simply break all ties from each other.

"Now, I expect some responses if I'm going to take time out of my busy schedule to write to you," Nixon joked, causing Sadie to break out in a watery smile.

"I'll see what I can do," she teased back.

"Take care of yourself Sadie."

"You too, Lew. Please stay safe," she requested once again.

"I always do."

With that Sadie hugged him one last time and went to find the other nurses that had gathered to leave Holland and return to England. She silently stared out of the back of the moving truck until no American paratroopers were visible on the horizon.

She was going to miss Lewis Nixon and the other men more than she would have ever predicted when she got assigned to Easy Company over a year ago.

**A/N: I just want to say thank you to everyone for sticking with this. I know I'm really slow at writing, but it's not something I plan on giving up on! Thanks again and please review! The reviews definitely inspire me to write!**


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